Black Covenant
by KingofthePhantomDragon
Summary: His furious eyes turned black as he glared at the monstrosity before him. That's all i'm saying! You have to read to find out the rest. AstridXHiccup!
1. Chapter 1

Hidey ho, Neighbor! I got this idea after watching "How to Train Your Dragon" twice. I just thought that movie was awesome. Naturally I had several ideas as of how to make my own version and I think I got a good start here.  
I hope you all enjoy!

The following content is partially provided by Stone-Man85. Please review and praise him for his incredible work.

Nestled near the shore ways of the ocean, possibly the Atlantic Ocean, located near somewhere in Norway or Iceland, a large and mountainous island was located. Stone stalactites were lining along the ocean area that surrounded the village of Berk. Carved into them were Celtic and Norwegian figures to make them look like Viking totem poles in a way. One of the carvings had its mouth holding a continuous burning torch in place, never going out at all, even in the night skies as of tonight. The city village itself, which consisted of huts, probably two stories or three levels high, were built along the shore canyon walls that led to the docks down below. And further back beyond the town, connected to bridges was a sort of stone coliseum of sorts.

This, was the Isle and city village of Berk, home of the Hairy Hooligans, one of the mightiest Viking tribes in that location. Berk was only twelve days North and a few degrees south. Some said it was solemnly located on the meridian of Misery… so to speak. It had been there for seven strong generations to come, but every new century, the buildings would always be rebuilt brand new. But like most villages, it had its ups and downs, but mostly a 'pest problem'.

Most locations had mice, mosquitoes, locusts, flesh-eating flies, or babies entering the Terrible Two's. But Berk… it had a much bigger problem…

On one of the grassy plain farms of Berk, the lazy sheep were just grazing and all about. Then suddenly, one of the lambs were snatched up in the blink of an eye, with a huge swoosh in the shadows.

On one of the islands closest to Berk, a lookout tower was standing straight, with only one guard looking outward. Everything seemed pretty peaceful to him… until a small light blue blast shot at one of the ships got his attention. One of the ships began to sink in light blue flames, and then another was bombed down again by the same flames.

He immediately ran over to one of the bells, and rung if furiously, getting the village's attention. Torches and voices rose up as all the Viking men began to work around the clock, preparing for battle.

In one of the larger houses, a young Viking lad was racing down the stairways to head outside. The young lad was a Caucasian Viking, with medium reddish brown hair, with a few tiffs of hair growing down in the back of his neck, and his bangs combed to the right side, but still sticking out spiky and messy, and also green eyes to this unlikely boy. His frame was a bit thin, but not gangly, more like he had the frame of a young swimmer or runner of sorts. He was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt, a gray-furred vest that went down and ended at his waist. He also wore black pants and a brown belt that held them up. But attached to the belt and fastened to his right leg, was a sort of tool pouch, which only carried a book that he used for communication and to take notes. To finish his look, he had your typical Viking style boots.

In true retrospect, this kid didn't look like your typical Viking teenager. But this young lad was someone of great importance, considering he was the son of the Viking chief of the Hairy Hooligans, Stoick the Vast. This boy was Hiccup Horrendus Haddock III or to everyone else, Hiccup the Mute.

Ever since his mother had died on a raid when he was six, he had lost his voice due to the trauma of hearing the scream of his mother as she was burned alive on the ship, while he was unable to do anything on the docks. He had been trying to re-learn how to speak, making slow progress. He could make noises, like grunt or sigh, but not actual words. He was under the process of learning the secret legend of the Covenant, a clan of telepathic magic-users that she was descendant from. He had trained under her teachings until she died, he then began teaching himself about his mysterious power and had learned much about his abilities and limitations for those abilities.

At this moment, he reached the door, as he was about to head for his usual job, as a Blacksmith under his mentor's teachings. However, as he opened the door, he caught sight of the usual pests that they were all suffering from.

The beast flew down on massive wings with two claws on them, and landed on its black clawed feet. The beast had a long tail, in which was covered in black sharp spines that went from the tip of its tail to the top of its skull, next to its four long sharp horns. The beast had a huge maw full of sharp bladed teeth, and the most fearful yellow reptilian eyes you would ever see. Its whole body was colored black, red, and yellow. This was known as a Monstrous Nightmare; the most ferocious of the…

_"Dragons!"_ Hiccup thought to himself in an annoyed tone. He immediately shut the door as the Nightmare blew a powerful blast of fire right at him. The flames only popped out of the top and sides of the closed door, giving the young Viking teen boy some relief as he thought, _"I think I better go out the back entrance."_

As soon as Hiccup did get out the back way, did he witness what was transpiring in his village. As he ran through the warring village, he witnessed his own people fend off many different kinds of dragons. One Viking continued to pummel a roundish dragon that flew on wings that fluttered like a humming bird's wings… while they were still in the air. Another dragon shot out fire that would melt the strongest steel, and with a wave of its tail, shot out yellow spikes that stuck to the wall like darts.

But no matter how vicious the dragons were, the Vikings would never give up. This was probably due to some pride they had, a warrior's code to fight to the death, or it was just some random stubbornness issues. Either way, Vikings carrying axes, hammers, swords, or any other sharp weapon, all yelled out battle cries to defend their homes, and their livestock.

"Another raid on our village?" one of the Vikings asked their comrade.

"Aye, it's the 78th this year," a female Viking stated, slashing at what appeared to be a bluish dragon that looked to be more parrot than lizard. "You'd think that after all the beatings and killings we give'em, they'd give up!"

As Hiccup made his way through the village's people, as well as dodged, evaded, and avoided being either burned, bitten, or even captured by a dragon, he was suddenly pulled back by his fur vest. When Hiccup was settled down by his feet, he saw who it was that had grabbed him.

The man was a tall and powerful looking Viking, who nearly dwarfed the boy. He was dressed in a green and brown Viking battle ensemble, with two shoulder guards, and a black cape. He had red hair and a massively large red beard held together by braids. This was Stoick the Vast, the chief of the Hairy Hooligans tribe, leader of Berk, and Hiccup's father. One of the many stories about him, was that when he was only an infant, he ripped a dragon's head clean off its own shoulders.

"What are you doing out here, son?" Stoick yelled at his son, who slightly flinched from the yell. "Get inside," he ordered as he let him go, and he continued to fight alongside his Viking brethren. As soon as he saw his son was out of sight, Stoik turned to one of his fellow Viking warrior brethren and asked, "What have we got?"

The warrior, recognizing his chief, reported, "Well, sir, we've got Gronkles, Nadders, a few ZippleBacks," then suddenly, one of the buildings erupted, as a Monstrous Nightmare came charging out; its body was all ablaze from horn to foot talons. "Oh, and one Monstrous Nightmare."

Stoick looked around in the skies, cautiously, until he finally asked, "Any sightings of any Night Furies?"

"None so far," the Viking reported. Then suddenly, one of the watch towers were blown apart, by what appeared to be a fast ball of blue flames. The tower's structure collapsed into the ocean down below, as one of the Vikings shouted, 'Night Fury!' and the Viking turned to Stoick as he replied, "Until now."

"Thank Odin," Stoick groaned sarcastically.

**Gobber's Blacksmith Shop**

Hiccup had finally arrived at the blacksmith shop as he ran towards the door and ran inside. He immediately slipped on his blacksmith's apron as he immediately ran to the drop off window, where his employer was waiting patiently. He was what anyone whould see in a typical Viking; big and burly, not the most pleasant face to look at. He was a man, almost Stoick's height, but bigger around the midsection; a veritable beer gut. He had blonde hair and a longer blonde mustache that was braided, a mouth with a few unstraightened teeth, as well as a fake tooth sticking out. He wore a yellow sleeveless Viking shirt with brown and white pants that were nearly worn out, a Viking style boot on his left foot, while his right foot was a peg leg, a brown furred vest, a Viking helmet with triangular shaped horns on it. He also had a brown wrist band with several bands going up his right arm, while on his left arm, his hand had been completely replaced by a rope tied interchangeable prosthetic left hand, which was now a pair of coal tweezers. This was Gobber the Belch, a friend of Stoick the Vast, friend of the Haddock Family, and mentor/boss/uncle to Hiccup.

"Well, how nice of ya ta join the party." Gobber greeted his young ward, in a thick Scottish accent. "For a moment there, I thought you'd been carried off."

Hiccup stopped in his tracks at his post near the window register. He looked to his mentor incredulously, while pulling out his book and a stick with a charred end. _"What, who me? Nah, c'mon!"_ He showed his writing and scoffed at the very notion as he gestured to himself and flexing, not getting much out, _"I'm way to muscular for their taste. I mean, come on! They wouldn't know what to do with all this."_

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" Gobber said, poking harmless fun at the young lad.

For as long as anyone could remember, Hiccup had been Gobber's apprentice ever since he was little, or littler, as the joke would have been passed around. Truth be told, Gobber wasn't the most pleasant to work around with, but that was probably due to Hiccup in a certain way. Instead of working in the shop, repairing broken or worn down weapons or tools, he wanted more than anything to be outside on days like this. Going out there, killing a dragon; it was something of a right of passage for young teenage Vikings, and it was one that Hiccup was sorely missing out on.

Suddenly, an explosion of flame had risen up from one of the houses. This caught Hiccup's attention as he leaned out the window to get a gander. The fire was dying down a bit to get a look at six individuals that were walking away from the fire, and in which one of them flipped their hair as they turned around to face his direction.

One of them was a huge stout and strong fellow, around Hiccup's age group. He was huge in height and big in the midsection, especially the upper region. He wore an all fur shirt that nearly covered his whole body, black pants, and Viking style boots. His cheeks were pretty huge shrinking his face down a bit, with shaggy blonde hair with a small Viking helmet on his small head. This was Fishlegs, an expert on dragon knowledge. Too bad he kept spouting out the information in RPG stats.

On the other side of them, were two teen fraternal twin brother and sister. They were both blonde and had sort of a thuggish look to them, while the girl still looked pretty cute. They both wore the same type of Viking helmet, with which the horns were elongated to look like antelope horns. The male wore a brown fur vest, a gray shirt with a brown belt, with grayish blue pants, brown arm straps from wrist to elbow, and Viking style boots, and had long blonde hair and brown eyes. The female had her long blonde hair braided, two long braids in front, as well as two smaller ones that stuck up like animal ears, and brown eyes like her brother, dark gray armbands that went to her palms and ended at her elbows, as well as armbands on her biceps. She had on a sleeveless yellow short skirt held on by a black belt, dirty green pants and dark Viking style boots. The girl's name was Ruffnut, and her brother was named Tuffnut; both were wild, reckless, adrenaline junkies, but not all that bright.

The other one was a boy perhaps a year older than Hiccup. Unlike the others, this guy was a muscle-bound bully, probably just as bright as one, which stemmed he had the mental capacity of a big, dumb, ape. He had slicked back dark brown hair, with a Viking helmet on his head, sporting ram horns. He wore a faded yellow shirt showing off his muscled physic, a dark brown furred vest, with dark black pants, Viking style boots, and brown wrist bands. This fellow was Snotlout Jorgenson, Hiccup's cousin, the only teenager who could excel at being a Viking his own age. For one obvious clue aside from being a complete meathead: he didn't bathe often at all. Well often was being too nice, the last time he bathed was five months ago.

And finally, the last Viking he saw leading the group, was the one that made him melt down into butter. It was a female Viking, only two centimeters smaller than him, but if there was one thing about this girl: size didn't matter with her. She looked very athletic; her body frame was thin for a Viking but she looked pretty agile. She had blonde hair with long bangs that cover the left side of her forehead, and a braided ponytail in the back, and dazzling blue eyes. She wore a leather band across her forehead, and faded bands around her forearms and palms, giving it a sort of boxing style. She also wore a grayish blue tight shirt with armored shoulder pads hooked on the sleeves. She even wore a red leather skirt with spikes and a pouch on her hip, with two small skull pendants on the belt. Under the skirt, she wore tight black pants, and brown Viking boots. She was Astrid Hofferson, the toughest Viking girl that ever existed in this day and age.

And she was the only girl that melted Hiccup on the spot. He looked at her, a dreamy gaze just burning through his eyes as he sighed _"Astrid…"_ he sighed once again, deep in thought, _'Aw man, their job is beyond awesome! Wish I could be out there. Along with… Astrid….'_ He obviously had a huge crush on her, he just had to act the fool and nonchalant, even cold to her to keep up his "weak mute boy" cover.

Gobber was getting more the weapons set up, until he noticed his apprentice leaning out the window. Wondering what got the boy's attention such, he peeked out and saw the other Viking teens, and noticed Hiccup's gaze was solely on Astrid. The Viking just sighed with disappointment; the poor guy would be heartbroken the minute Astrid turned him down.

Deciding to save the young lad, Gobber grabbed him by the vest, gently swinging the boy 180 degrees back into the workshop, "Back to work, Hiccup. You don't wanna blow your cover that you've built up, do ya?"

_"Oh, c'mon,"_ The boy mentally whined in frustration, _"__**Let me out, please? I need to make my mark.**__"_ He wrote in bold letters to emphasize the importance of his statement.

Gobber chuckled a bit, as he set the lad down and poked him in the chest, "Oh, you've made plenty of marks, all in the wrong places."

_"Please, just two minutes. That's all I ask,"_ Hiccup pleaded, _"I'll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. Heck! I might even get to talk to a girl, let alone get a date."_

"Hiccup, I hate to tell you this, but you've got zero chance of being any kind of Viking," Gobber stated as he pointed out the many flaws that Hiccup had, "One: you're not physically fit for the job, despite your powers; you're as skinny as a stick, easily breakable. Two: you freeze up whenever a dragon gets close in your face, temporarily, but enough time in between to get your head bitten off. Three: you can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe, you can't thrust a sword," He then lifted a pair of bolos, "You can't even throw one of these." And just as he held them up, a Viking snatched those just as he threw at one of the dragons called a Gronkle, bringing it down in mid-flight.

Hiccup had taken notice of this, _"Okay, okay. You're right; I can't do any of those things, except for the weapons part! You know damn well that I made my own weapons."_ But then he ran over to where the weapons were as he explained, _"Besides, this will throw the bolos for me."_

He then revealed an automatic weapon. It resembled a four-wheeled slingshot cannon. Hiccup placed his hand on it, and then the equipment sprung open… launching a set of bolos shooting out the serving window… and striking a Viking standing outside, and fell to the ground, all tied up.

Gobber sighed in irritation as he walked over to Hiccup, "See, now this right here, is what I'm talkin' about."

_"It was just a mild calibration issue,"_ Hiccup defended, _"I can fix that."_

"Hiccup!" Gobber stated as he raised his hands, "If you ever want to get out there, fighting dragons," and then traced his hands around Hiccup, "You need to stop all this."

The two were quiet for a moment, as Hiccup was absorbing this information, until finally, he objected, _"You just pointed to all of me."_

"Yes," Gobber answered as he gently poked him in the chest, "That's it! Just stop being all of you."

Hiccup had a clueless look on his face, then turned attempted serious. Gobber raised a brow curiously.

Hiccup, writing his best warning, though a bit exasperated on it, _"You, sir are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much raw Viking-ness contained."_ He finished by jabbing his finger in the air, emphasizing his point. _"There will be consequences! As deemed by the blood of the covenant."_

"I'll take my chances, you're skills with your magic are fearsome, i'll give you that. But you can't use it for long and we both know it." Gobber stated monotone and quickly. The young Viking was disappointed to see how unmoved Gobber was by his warning. "Sword, sharpen!" Gobber ordered, ending the conversation and handing the dull blade to his young apprentice.

Hiccup sighed and his eyes turned charcoal black, sclera, iris, and pupil. The sword suddenly hovered onto the grinder and started to sharpen itself, and it continued to do so as he thought to himself, _'One day I'll get out there. I'll prove myself. I can be like the others.'_ as he skillfully sharpened the blade with much accuracy as he could, despite Gobber's point of him not being able to hold a weapon, _'because killing a dragon is everything.'_

He knew every dragon types, well at least the more noticeable dragons. A Deadly Nadder was sure to get Hiccup at least noticed, if he caught or brought it down. Gronkles were tough; not the most pleasant to look at, but they were very powerful; if at all, taking down one of those would definitely get him a girlfriend. A Hideous ZippleBack was one of the more exotic and mysterious of the dragons. After all, it was the only one that had two heads: twice the status. Then there was the Monstrous Nightmare; it was said that only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire, which was their ultimate defense mechanism. No Viking would be crazy enough to get themselves burned like that.

But if Hiccup ever wanted to get noticed as a Viking, especially to the girls, then he'd have to go for the ultimate price. He'd have to go for the most mysterious of them all: The one they called the Night Fury. From what he had heard about it from vikign rumors, was that it never stole food, never even showed itself, and most importantly: it _never _missed its intended target. No one had ever seen, let alone, killed a Night Fury, and Hiccup made it his plan on being the first.

Unfortunately, his train of thought was popped as soon as Gobber shouted to get the young lad his attention.

"Man the forge Hiccup, they need me out there," Gobber said changing his left hand to a mace. He jumped out of the registry window as he advised his pupil, "Stay. Put. There. You're smart enough to know what I mean," and with a loud, "_YAARGG!_" Gobber sprinted out and disappeared into the chaos of the battlefield.

Hiccup raised an arm and continued to stare at the hovering sword, seeming rather innocent at that moment.

However, being the misbehaved, puberty driven, and crazy teenager that he was, he sent the sword into a wall, grabbed his automatic bolo cannon and ran outside. However, he stopped himself as he bonked his head with his palm, _"Right, forgot about them."_

He ran to the other side of the room and to his personal work desk. There, he scooped up one of his other inventions that he made. It was a black-plated bracer that went from the back of his hand to the bottom of his elbow. He also grabbed a long bundle and unwrapped it, revealing a gold-hilted, double-edged, straightsword in a black sheath, christened Ebony. He pulled the sword out to reveal that the blade was as black as his eyes and razor-sharp. It wasn't like any other sword that he, or anyone else, had ever made, as it was forged from a meteor that had fallen from the sky several weeks back. Nobody had seemed interested in it, so he decided to haul it back to the village and make something useful out of it. His creations consisted of the sword in his hand, a large knife that was half the size of his sword, christened, Jet, which was currently tucked into his vest, a double-edged axe, some throwing knives, the bracer on his left arm, and one other creation that he had made that he made sure nobody saw. He looked longingly at a large wrapped object leaning against the wall. _"Soon, Obsidian. Soon you'll cleave through the light of day."_ He took a moment to examine Ebony's blade. The metal seemed very light but it was stronger than the toughest steel as far as his tests could confirm. Afterwards, he immediately bolted right out the door, and at that moment, his intentions were solely set on one thing: spot and take down a Night Fury.

**Outside**

He ran to a clear place where there were no dragons, noises, or Vikings to distract him, and he waited for just the right time to shoot.

Hiccup then stared at the night sky, keeping an eye out for his main target: the Night Fury. After what felt like fifteen minutes had gone up, Hiccup sighed as he was on the verge of giving up and heading back to the shop. Luckily, fate had brought him a sack of gold, for the Night Fury was about to make its debut to the boy. At that moment, a mysterious darkened silhouette, in a translucently glowing blue outlining had caught the boy's attention. After that, the mysterious shape fired a shot of fire at one of the other nearby towers, Hiccup beamed.

Hiccup immediately set up the bolo cannon, and took careful aim this time. As soon as the silhouette came into view, Hiccup knew that this had to be the Night Fury. Not taking any chances or waiting anymore, he fired his weapon.

He watched the black figure fall to the other end of the island. _"I… I hit it,"_ He thought in disbelief. He jumped up, if he could, he'd be shouting at the top of his lungs, as he never felt more alive at this moment. _"YES, I HIT IT! Did anybody see that?"_ He wondered, feeling proud of himself, but when he turned around all his hopes dropped.

At that very moment, the Monstrous Nightmare had landed with a thud right behind the young Viking, as he sighed, _"Except for this guy."_

Hiccup then realizing the danger he was in, immediately brought up his right hand to the hilt of his sword on his back. His fingers wrapped around the hilt and he pulled it out. The black blade gleamed in the fire's light and the light of the full moon above them as he held it out in front of himself, threateningly. However, the dragon continued to approach him. _"Okay."_ He mentally told himself as he balled his left fist up, _"Oh, Odin. Please let this work."_

He grasped the hilt with both hands and used his small size to slip under the dragons chin to deliver a futile kick to its lower jaw. The Nightmare growled before snapping at him. Hiccup flipped his sword underhanded and swiped it at the Nightmare's mouth, he managed to slice off a fang, but nothing else. It proved effective as the dragon threw its head back and yowled in pain. The creature then fixed its reptillian eyes on the small human before him and clawed at him. Hiccup held up his left arm and the Nightmare's claws clashed against the metal plate of his bracer. It didn't harm him but he was sent to the ground anyway, his sword flew into a boulder and sunk down to the hilt. His eyes turned black again and the boulder rose and flew into the dragon's face, sending it to the ground in a daze. He used his power to recall Ebony into his hand and he looked at the tower behind him. He slashed the base of the tower at an angle that would drop it on the Nightmare, and hopefully kill it and get him some good attention.

It fell on top of the Nightmare with a loud crash, getting the attention of the rest of the village. He sheathed his blade and turned around, moving to go through them and head back to the forge to recieve a lecture from his father and Gobber, for his disobedience. He stopped dead when there was a crash behind him, he turned to see the Monstrous Nightmare lunging for him with its teeth shining in the moonlight. But just before the Monstrous Nightmare even had the chance to chomp down on the scrawny boy and savor the taste, Stoick the Vast jumped right in front of the Nightmare came to Hiccup's rescue.

Stoick and the Nightmare stared each other down, the two barely only six inches apart. The beast's maw was only an inch open, as it slowly opened its mouth, showing a half-missing fang. Stoick turned his face away as his face contorted to disgust. The Monstrous Nightmare's mouth was fully opened as its fangs were dripping with drool as its throat was about to breath out a flame of fire at the Viking. But at the last second, Stoick brought his fist down on the dragon's head, closing it, as he breathed out the flames, little tidbits of the fires seeping out with smoke as the beast couldn't swallow the flames that it was forced to gulp down. It backed away, as it took notice other Vikings, including Gobber, were making their way to the scene. Realizing that it was severely outnumbered, and not wanting to have the same experience that the red-haired Viking had shown it, it immediately took to the skies, retreating with the other dragons that had gotten away.

_"Alright, I managed to get a little something out of that, though. I wonder what I can make out of this."_ Hiccup thought as he picked up the Nightmare's fang and held it in front of his face.

Hiccup continued on that train of thought as the other Vikings watched as the hoard of dragons flew away with the Tribe's sheep. He stood and turned around, looking at everyone's stares at him, especially the one that his father was giving him.

Hiccup sighed as he honestly apologized, _"Dad… I'm sorry,"_ But he tried to make up for it as he decided to change the subject, _"Okay, I screwed up… but I hit a Night Fury and got a Nightmare's fang."_ However, those words meant nothing at this moment, as Stoick grabbed Hiccup and began to drag him away.

_"It's not like the last few times, Dad."_ Hiccup protested, trying to get his father's attention by levitating the book in front of his face. _"I mean it. I really actually hit it. You guys were busy, I spotted it after it took down one of the other towers, and I had a very clear shot with my bolo cannon. It went down just off Raven Point. Let's get a search party out there before it-"_

"STOP!" Stoick interrupted, as father and son stopped in their tracks. Hiccup dropped his book and nearly was as straight as a board from his father's booming, angered voice. Finally, Stoick had calmed down as he scolded his son in a father's tone, "Just… stop. Every time you step outside disaster falls. Can you not see that I have bigger problems? Winter is almost here and I have an entire village to feed!"

_"Well between you and me the village could do with a little less feeding, don'tcha think?"_ Hiccup wrote in an attempt at dry humor. The very said humor that made him so unpopular.

"This isn't a joke, Hiccup!" Stoick shot out to his son, as he continued, "Why can't you follow the simplest orders?"

_"I can't stop myself!"_ Hiccup tried to defend himself on this one, but it wasn't getting through to his father, _"I see a dragon and I have to just, try to kill it, ya' know? It's who I am, Dad."_

Stoick sighed as he looked hard to his son, and spoke to him in a disappointed but quiet tone, "You are many things, Hiccup, but a dragon killer is not one of them. Now I expect you to get back to the house," He then looked to Gobber as he ordered, "Make sure he gets there. I have his mess to clean up."

Hiccup just sighed in defeat; it was pretty made evident his father wasn't going to listen to him. Gobber padded him on the shoulder as he directed him to the Haddock household.

As Hiccup and Gobber walked by, the other teenagers made fun of him, "Quite the performance," commented Tuffnut.

"I have never seen anybody mess up that badly. That helped!" Said Snotlout.

Hiccup sighed as he passed them with his head down. He suddenly held up his hand and snapped his fingers. The boys suddenly hovered a few feet and their heads slammed together, knocking them out.

As the two 'slept', Stoick looked to his son, with a saddened disappointed look on his face.

**Haddock Residence**

The House of Haddock was a three-story house that had looked like it had never been touched by the fires of the dragons. Though it was probably because it was easy to rebuild to make it look like nothing had happened. When the two got to the Haddock house, the sun just started to come up. At the point, Hiccup was still fuming out on his past deed, in which no one, not even Gobber believed in, _"I really did hit a Night Fury."_ He wrote.

"Sure ya did," Gobber mumbled as he rolled his eyes, not believing it at all.

Hiccup began pulling his hair in disbelief, _"He never listens!"_

"It runs in the family," Gobber mumbled.

He then stopped at the door as he shot out, _"And whenever he does, it's always with this disappointed scowl like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich."_ As Hiccup got to the front door he stood to face Gobber, and then began to furiously write, _"Excuse me Barmaid, I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring. I ordered an extra-large boy with beefy arms. Extra guts and glory on the side. This here, this is a talking fish-bone."_ He finished, putting his book down on the table and his head in his hands. _"And… he's right."_

"Now yer thinkin' about this all wrong," Gobber explained trying to comfort his friend's son, "It's not so much what yah look like, it's what's in_side_ that he can't stand."

Gobber wasn't to smart, but at least he tried. Hiccup at least brightened up a bit as a small smirk escaped the lad's lips, _"Thanks, for summing that up, Asshole."_

"Look the point is, stop trying so hard to be somethin' you're not," Gobber advised, and then walked to wherever his home was, leaving the boy to go into his home.

_"I just wanna be one of you guys,"_ Hiccup wrote sadly, and he closed the door behind him. Just to escape through the back door to go and find the rarest dragon that he just so happened to catch. He wasn't about to give up; if he could bring back at least the head of the Night Fury, then things might have been different. However, he didn't know that change would come to him just by encountering this unseen dragon.

**Berk Council Hall**

While Hiccup ran through the forests of Berk, searching for the Night Fury, Stoick the Vast was leading a meeting, discussing to the other adult Vikings about what they had to do about these dragons.

"Either we finish them or they finish us!" Stoick calmly yelled out to the other Vikings, his voice echoing throughout the stone building. "It's the only way we'll be rid of them," He plunged his knife into a map of the surrounding oceans, right where the dragons' nest was thought to be. "One more search before the ice sets in. If we find the nest and destroy it, the dragons will have to leave, they'll find another home."

However, one of the warriors was uncertain, as he stated a firm reminder. "But those ships never come back."

"We're Vikings, it's an occupational hazard," Stoick stated, tossing away all fear. "Now who's with me?" He looked at the room full of Vikings, no one seemed to agree with him at this point. Either they thought the plan wouldn't work, or they were just too afraid. "Alright," he said, sighing at the quiet, "Those who wish to stay… will simply have to have the honor of looking out after my son, Hiccup."

It was only until Stoick had uttered his son's name, did the room burst with agreements and battle-cries.

"I'm with you, Stoick!" yelled Spitelout, Stoick's second in command; he was also his brother and Snotlout's father, making Hiccup his nephew.

"That's more like it." the chief replied, very satisfied with both the response and to himself.

The room began to empty as the Vikings left, leaving just Stoick and Gobber. "Alright, I'll go pack my undies," Gobber stated with a smile on his face, as he stood up getting ready to leave the room. He then switched his prosthetic hand with a large wooden mug.

"No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits." Stoick walked over to Gobber, who sat down again.

"Oh perfect, and while I'm busy, Hiccup can cover the store," Gobber said sarcastically, taking a swig from his mug, even as his fake tooth fell into the mug, "Molten steel, razor sharp blades, lots of time to himself. What could possibly go wrong?"

Feeling lost, Stoick sighed as he turned to his best friend and asked, "What am I gonna do with 'im Gobber?"

Gobber thought about it for a moment, and calmly shrugged, "Put 'im in training with the others," Answered Gobber.

"He'd be killed before you let the first dragon out of it's cage," Stoick protested. "He's not strong enough for this kind of…"

"Oh ya don't know that," Gobber defended.

"I do know that," Stoick insisted.

"No ya don't"

"No actually I do."

"No ya don't!"

"Listen, you know what he's like. From the time he could crawl he's been, different. Since his mother's death, he's been mute and he's been practicing her magic. He's got it down pretty well, according to the stories she told me about when she was learning about it. But it, alone, isn't enough." Stoick sighed in frustration, and turned to look away from Gobber, "He doesn't listen; he has the attention span of a sparrow. I take 'im fishin' and he goes hunting for, for trolls."

"Trolls _do_ exist!" interrupted Gobber "They steal yer socks. But only the left ones. What's with that?"

"When I was a boy..." Stoick started.

"Oh, here we go." muttered Gobber to himself, as he took another swig from his mug.

"When I was a boy," Stoick started again, ignoring the groan, "My father told me to bang my head against a rock, and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn't question him, and you know what happened?"

"You got a headache?" Said Gobber, unamused, while trying to fish out his fake tooth which had fallen into his mug.

"That rock split in two," Stoick said, ignoring Gobber. "It taught me what a Viking could do. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy I knew what was, what I had to become. Hiccup is not that boy."

"You can't stop him Stoick, you can only prepare him," Gobber started as he began to finish, "I know it seems hopeless but the truth is you won't always be around to protect 'im. He's gonna get out there again. He's probably out there now."

Stoick looked to his friend, and then turned away in thought, lost in it was more like it.

**Later On**

**Deep in the Forests of Berk**

Through the thick and darkened forests, the young Viking in talk back at the council was fervently searching all over for his game. Hiccup had made his way throughout the islands, keeping track of where he had been in his pocket book. Putting X's on a map of where he had looked for the dragon, and so far, it was without any luck. Frustrated, he scribbled out his map and put it away in his vest.

_"Oh, the Gods hate me. Everybody else does,"_ He miserably thought, _"Some people lose their knife or their mug."_ He then sighed in frustration as he hit a tree branch out of his way, _"No, not me! I manage to lose an entire dragon!"_ And then to make matters worse for himself, that very same branch he swatted away, came back and smacked him hard in the face.

Hiccup grunted as he rubbed the sore spot he was smacked in before yanking out his sword and cleaving the branch off the tree.

He groaned as he glared up at the tree, and realized something as his anger subsided. The tree had been snapped in half; almost as if something large and heavy plowed right through it at an angle. Then he realized that must have been the case, for underneath it, a deep trail was cut into the ground, like something had crash-landed there, similar to that meteor that he made his weapons out of.

Hiccup crawled down the path; hoping that it might have been the Night Fury's body. It ended just as it met a small hill going down. He peered over the edge, just to immediately disappear back behind it. Slowly looking over again, he saw a black motionless figure lying on the ground, tangled in ropes of his own bolo cannon.

The beast was definitely dragon in design and function. The beast's wingspan must have been fourteen to sixteen feet, and the dragon itself was large and sleek, adding to its tail's length as well. Its scaly body was completely colored black; its design was something similar to perhaps a newt, or possibly a dog due to the legs design. Hiccup also took notice that aside from the main large wings, there was a second small set of wings behind the main ones, and the tail had sort of wing-like tips at the end… or at least one wing-like tip. Aside from that, Hiccup also took notice that it had a short neck and, unlike other dragons, it had no nose horn. It even had two floppy like ears, along with two floppy flesh parts in the back of its head that resembled horns of such, and underneath the bigger ones were a pair of mid and small earlike flaps. From the top of its skull to the mid part of his tail, there were small scale fringes. And, for a moment, Hiccup thought that he had seen one of the eyes open, to reveal them to be a catlike green.

He reached into his vest to take out Jet. With his weapon out and about, he slowly and cautiously made his way down the hill, hiding behind a rock before walking up to the unmoving creature.

_"Oh-oh wow. I did it,"_ Hiccup smiled at this accomplishment, walking now close to six inches of the body of the fallen Night Fury. _"Ohh, I did I! This fixes everything! Yes!"_ He then placed his foot on the dragon's belly, feeling extremely proud.

But his victory was short lived, for as he realized too soon, the dragon stirred underneath him, and began to breath heavily.

He looked over to the dragons head and gulped as his face went pale and his eyes bulged out of his skull. It wasn't his imagination when he thought he saw his eyes open; one large green eye stared at Hiccup. Hiccup jumped back, nearly falling over on his butt, had he not regained his balance. It seemed that the Night Fury had not made any attempts to free itself, or any attempt to attacking him.

The dragon made low rumbling noises, and Hiccup held his blade out, positioning himself in front of it. _"Alright, I'm… I'm gonna kill you, Dragon,"_ He thought uncertainly, not sure if he was gonna make good on his threat, _"I mean it… I'm gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I'm a Viking,"_ He mentally whispered, holding his shining black blade up, attempting to thrust the blade deep into the dragon's chest. But then, he finally thought, _"I am a Viking!"_

It was when he did this, he took notice that the Night Fury looked up at him, and noticed that its eyes were full of fear. _'I… I can do this,' _he thought to himself, his right hand was starting to shake with uncertainty, _'No! no, I can't flake out on this. I can do this!'_

Hiccup took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and held the blade in place, almost scratching the surface of the dragon's underbelly. He held his arm with his left hand, steadying it in order to stop shaking as he readied to plunge it deep into the heart. He opened his right eye and looked at the black beast. It looked so frightened, and as Hiccup closed his eyes once again and prepared to strike, the dragon's head lolled back and it's eyes shut, almost accepting its fate.

Hiccup let out a huge groaning sigh, as he brought down the jet-black blade… away from the dragon's belly. Hiccup just sighed as he looked at the Night Fury, no longer able to kill the helpless dragon. He looked at the ropes that bounded it together, and thought, with regret dripping from his thoughts and his face, _"I did this."_

The Night Fury's eyes were close tightly, awaiting its fate. Until it heard a snapping sound as its eyes shot open. The dragon looked to see what was going on and was slightly shocked. Hiccup's eyes turned black and he had sat down by a rock and the blade was moving on its own, and began to cut the ropes that held its claws, teeth, and wings contained.

As he did this, the Night Fury's mind was buzzing all over with questions. It was prepared to die, and now this young Viking was sparing its life. This was very unexpected. Why did this human spare it?

_"Okay,"_ Hiccup thought to the dragon, almost as if he knew it could hear and understand his, thoughts _"Just one more and you're free."_

However, it wasn't gonna be that easy for Hiccup, not until the last rope was cut. Once the dragon was free, it lunged right at him. The Night Fury restrained him against the rock the young lad snuck up, with its claws right at his neck. The dragon stared at Hiccup with its large, vibrant catlike green eyes, filled with anger. Hiccup struggled under the dragon's hold, failing to free himself he looked at the dragon.

The dragon opened its mouth, revealing rows of sharp white teeth. Hiccup gulped, knowing full well that this would be the part, where the Night Fury would probably either burn him into cinders, or simply give him a slow death by biting the flesh off of his face. However, none of that happened at all, for at the last second, it loosened its grip on Hiccup and let out a ferocious roar. Once it was satisfied with itself, it took off into the forest. It attempted to fly away, however, for some odd reason, it hit rock cliffs and trees, until it fell somewhere deep in the forest.

Breathing heavily, Hiccup willed Jet into his hand, using it as leverage to help himself stand up. However, the situation that he had put himself in, caused all the strength in him to simply drain into the ground. He made it not even three steps before his knees became wobbly, and his legs gave out underneath him. He then lost all his strength, physically and mentally, until finally, he fainted, and everything went black for him.

**A Little Later**

When he had finally woken up, he had realized it was almost dark. He thought all that had just happened was a nasty dream, and that maybe he had just fallen asleep. Walking around the forest until dawn could do that to a young teenager of sixteen. But as he climbed the hill and saw the path that tore up the ground, he suddenly realized that everything that had just happened… was real.

Not wanting to stick around until the Night Fury would attack him in revenge, he ran out of there, and kept running, unaware of his surroundings, and didn't care much about that. All he did was just traveled in a straight path, in his mind he was reliving what had just happened over and over again.

**Back in the Village**

**Haddock Household**

When he arrived at the village he realized that he couldn't kill dragons. "_But why?"_ He thought _"Why didn't… No. why couldn't I kill that dragon when I had the chance? Why...?"_ He then scratched the back of his head, even deeper thoughts were nagging at the back of his head even more, _"And why didn't it kill me? I thought it would have taken the liberty to just bite my head off. So why didn't it?"_ His mind trailed off and he reached his home. He didn't want to confront his father so he planned on sneaking upstairs to his bedroom without Stoick noticing.

He opened the large wooden door, as quietly as he could. As he snuck in as quietly as he could, he saw his father, sitting down in his deer and moose skinned recline chair. He just sat there, poking at the hearth in quiet thought. This was just what Hiccup needed, and he started to run up the stairs.

"Hiccup," Stoick calmly called to his son, easily noticing his return.

Hiccup stopped in his tracks at that moment. His face filled with regret and dread at this point.

"I need to talk to you, Son..." Stoik said.

**Later in Hiccup's Room**

It was the first door in the hallway upstairs as he turned the knob, and opened the door. As soon as he got in there, he looked around his room.

It was a simple design for his room; his bed was in the middle next to the left side of his room. His desk was on the right side with a sketchbook with many designs in it, as well as tools strewn about it. At the end of the room was a circular window, big enough for a person to get out with no need to squeeze through. There were a few bear skinned lounge chairs in the corner to where the window was, along with a few books about Dragons, fighting, atop an antler table next to one of the chairs. The walls were covered in posters about great Vikings and their victories, and a few maps of the world's greatest locations to where dragons were located.

Hiccup walked over to his desk and sat down at the chair. He heard his father's snore echo through the house. His eyes turned black and he suddenly growled and punched his desk, making a hole in the wood like it was paper. _"How dare he, that bastard! He wouldn't listen to me if his life depended on it. I couldn't get a chance to write two lines, let alone a counter-argument."_ He sighed in frustration before turning to where his sketchbook was. Immediately, he pulled out a pencil of sorts, and leaned over his desk and started to draw.

After a few minutes, Hiccup had drawn a black and white picture of the Night Fury; very accurately and with much detail to it. He then posted it next to the one of Astrid. He leaned on his chair as he looked at the picture of the Night Fury he had released. He looked at the picture, both with fascination, and a little depressed. He figured that even though he told himself that he would see a dragon like that again, he knew that it was easier said than done.

He then looked at the picture of the dragon, and thought hopefully, _"I hope I can see you again."_

(A.N: The sword, Ebony looks like a black bladed SOLDIER 2nd class sword from FFVII.

Alright! Tell me what you all think! Seriously, send me your opinions, I love reading them.


	2. Chapter 2

I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter and i'm happy to give you all the second.

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

On the other side of the village, on the side of a mountainous cliff connected to the village by a stone bridge, a giant stone-shaped coliseum stood there. The dome was constructed with impenetrable stone, and on top of the dome, was a metal cage. The walls and the cage roof were completely destructive-proof, as it was built into the side of the cliff that towered above it. Inside and out, were doors that were bolted into and secured by plank locks. This was the Dragon Training coliseum, where all Vikings at the teenage age trained to fight dragons. And today, the young wards were making their way through, followed by Gobber as he reached for the door, with his prosthetic hand changed into a ruler sized hook.

"Welcome to Dragon Training!" Gobber said to his teenage students.

The doors opened to the Dragon Training Ring, allowing the teenagers to enter the training grounds. Astrid, followed by Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs entered the arena, with weapons in hand.

"No turning back," Astrid said to herself, walking confidently, ready to finally learn how to slay dragons.

The group of young Vikings walked into the middle of the ring, all gazing around them and getting a good look at the stone walls and the chain ceiling that surrounded them.

"I hope I get some serious burns," said the male twin Tuffnut.

"I'm hoping for some mauling," said his sister Ruffnut, "like, on my shoulder or lower back."

"Yeah," sighed Astrid, "It's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

There was a loud 'pop' as though someone had cracked his neck.

Everyone heard that, and turned around to the entrance. There, they saw none other than Hiccup, equipped with his bracer, as well as his sword, Ebony. He grudgingly stepped into the ring last, wryly waving a greeting, _"Pain. Love it."_ He thought sarcastically.

"Oh great," Tuffnut said, looking at Hiccup. "Who let him in?"

"Alright, let's get started!" yelled Gobber, ignoring the last statement that Tuffnut had made. "The recruit who does best will win the honor of killing his first dragon in front of the entire village."

"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury so… does that disqualify him or...?" Snotlout asked innocently, when in truth he was poking fun at his cousin. As he did this, the other students, minus Astrid, laughed as they walked further into the arena.

As if to add more salt into the wound, Snotlout taunted aloud, "Can I change to the class with the cool Vikings instead of the freakshow?" That made the others laugh even harder. Hiccup sighed and his eyes turned black again. Snotlout suddenly felt a draft around his legs and he looked down to see that his pants had fallen, revealing his yellow underwear. With a high-pitched scream, he yanked them back up while the others laughed, except, of course, Astrid. He turned around and fixed Hiccup with a murderous glare. Hiccup smiled back at him with his midnight-colored eyes full of mirth.

"Don't worry," said Gobber reassuringly, putting a hand on Hiccup's shoulder as they started to walk forward, "You're small and they think you're weak. That'll make you less of a target. They'll go after the more Viking-like teens instead."

_"Gee, that's great, Asshole."_ He shrugged off his mentor's hand.

With a rough push, Gobber sent Hiccup towards the rest of the group.

"Behind these doors," Gobber said passing in front of his students, "…are just a few of the many species you will learn to fight." Gobber walked towards a large door, that was shaking on its hinges; obviously it was a very angry dragon waiting behind it. "Here we have the Deadly Nadder,"

"Speed: 8, armor: 16..." Said a very eager Fishlegs.

"The Hideous ZippleBack," Gobber said pointing to an even larger door.

"… Eleven stealth – times 2... "

"The Monstrous Nightmare," Gobber stated to a door that was smoking on both the wood and the hinges.

"- Fire-power: 15... "

"And finally," Gobber finished, as he stopped in front of an iron clad door, with many warning symbols on it. "The Terrible Terror!"

"- Attack: 8, venom: 12! - "

"WOULD YOU STOP THAT!" Gobber yelled, feeling very annoyed, as he walked to a wooden and metal door that was knocking so hard, it almost seemed like there was a battering ram on the other side of it. "And then, there's the Gronkle." Gobber put his hand on the lever that would open the door.

"Jaw-strength: 8." Fishlegs whispered to Hiccup, who snickered.

"Whoa whoa, wait!" yelled Snotlout, looking terrified. "Aren't you gonna teach us first?"

_"He doesn't believe in that sort of thing,"_ Hiccup thought as he rubbed his temples and vocally sighed, with only Fishlegs hearing that as he gulped.

"I believe in learning on the job," Gobber answered, with a smile on his face, and his hand on the lever. However, Hiccup only knew that too well, being Gobber's apprentice in the Black-smith's shop. As proof of this, they all witnessed Gobber push down on the lever, opening the door.

Suddenly, bursting down the doors as they slowly opened, a mighty dragon flew in. or rather, hovered forward and in the air, as it would be. The dragon was colored a light puke brown, and had a short body, a gigantic head, and a round tail. It had yellow eyes, two wing-like horns atop of its eyebrows, and a smaller horn on the tip of its nose. Its mouth had two large bottom teeth, giving it the look of a bulldog. Under its chin and on top of its back and tail, it had purple small stubby spikes, that kind of resembled like acne. However, unlike the Dreaded Nightmare or any other dragon, its wings were relatively small, but were beating as fast as a hummingbird's by the looks of it right now. It looked pretty small, but the way it was moving, it was very good in maneuverability. This was a Gronkle, a bit lazy but nevertheless never to be underestimated on the battlefield.

The Gronkle maneuvered about the ring, flapping its wings like a hummingbird. All the young Viking teenagers dispersed about the ring, preparing to take combat of this flying mini-tanked creature. "Today is all about survival against your opponent. If you get blasted, then you're dead." Gobber warned his students, as the Gronkle flew around angrily. "Quick!" he shouted, beginning his little quiz, "What's the first thing you're going to need?"

Hiccup snorted, not too sure about this exercise.

"Plus 5 speed?" Fishlegs guessed, slowly starting to freak out now as he spoke in RPG lingo.

"A Shield!" Astrid said, all raring to go on this exercise.

"Shield! Go!" Gobber ordered, pointing out to a pile of shields, and the teenagers ran around to where the shields were. "The most important piece of equipment is your shield!" Gobber advised the students. "If you must make a choice between a sword and a shield," Gobber said while helping Hiccup lift his shield off the ground, "… take the shield!"

_"It's okay, I brought my own,"_ Hiccup held up his arm and gave Gobber the shield back.

As Hiccup grabbed Ebony's hilt, Gobber rubbed his temple, muttering, "Oy, Hiccup," he then gestured to all of Hiccup as he stated, "Remember our talk?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes in annoyance as he headed to where the others were, _"I gotta stop being all this. Yeah right!"_

Meanwhile, as the other teens grabbed their shields, Tuffnut and Ruffnut ran to where the shields. Unfortunately, they both made it the habit to grab the one with skulls and fire painted on it. This caused the two to fight it out over possession of the shield as the two were now playing a game of tug-o-war.

"Take your hands off my shield!" Tuffnut yelled.

"There's like a million shields!" Ruffnut argued.

"Take that one; it has flowers on it. Girls like flowers." Tuffnut said, gesturing to a different shield. Ruffnut managed to get the shield out of Tuffnut's hands. And then she smacked him over the head with it. "Ahh!" Tuffnut yelled, feeling the sting from the blow on his noggin.

"Oops," Ruffnut innocently apologized, until her edge came back in her voice, "…now this one has blood on it."

Tuffnut grabbed the shield once again, and the twins both continued to fight pointlessly over the shield. The Gronkle, not having much patience in a siblings squabble, fired a shot of blazing flames that destroyed the shield Ruff and Tuff had been fighting over. The blast was powerful enough to send them both spinning in the air, until finally, they crashed face-first into the ground.

"Tuffnut! Ruffnut! You're out!" Gobber yelled.

"What?" They said, in a daze as they groggily got back up on their feet.

"Those shields are good for another thing. Noise," Gobber advised the teenagers as the Gronkle was hovering around, either planning to attack, or basically escape the coliseum dome. "Make lots of it to throw off a dragon's aim."

The remaining Viking teens began to hit their shields with their weapons, confusing the Gronkle. The Gronkle's vision became disoriented with every banging sound made. Now, the young Viking teens were nothing more than shaking blurs in its eyesight.

"All dragons have a limited number of shots," Gobber continued with the lesson, as he quizzed, "How many does a Gronkle have?"

"Five?" Guessed Snotlout.

"No, six!" Fishlegs yelled out, holding his shield up in the air, feeling glad that his knowledge was coming to good use.

"Correct, six!" Gobber said, "That's one for each of you!" However, as Gobber said this, the Gronkle took the opportunity, when its head was cleared up, and destroyed Fishlegs's shield, which he had been lifting into the air. When this happened, Fishlegs ran out of there with his hands raised in the air, screaming his head off in fear.

"Fishlegs… you're out! Hiccup! Get in there!" Gobber yelled.

During the commotion, Hiccup had taken the opportunity to hide behind some wood left in the stadium in an attempt to come up with a plan. As Hiccup stepped away from the wood, he was almost blasted to pieces by the Gronkle. Hiccup, with having one advantage, was fast on his feet. It was from years, running away from the occasional bullies that picked on him. Now thankfully, it was being used to outrun the Gronkle's blasts.

The only ones left now, were him, Astrid, and Snotlout, who was standing close to Astrid. He was yet again trying to flirt with her, but she was more focused on the training exercise, once again.

"So yeah, I'm moving into my parent's basement," Snotlout flirted to Astrid, who clearly wasn't paying any attention to him. "You should come by some time to workout. You look like you workout." As Snotlout said that, Astrid cart wheeled/rolled to the side just as the Gronkle shot in her direction. Her movement left Snotlout exposed, and his shield was obliterated, as he was sent flying in the other direction.

"Snotlout! Yer done!" Gobber confirmed.

With a small battle 'Heeya!', Astrid rolled to the side, until she was now standing beside Hiccup. To Hiccup now, this was kinda an awkward moment; he and Astrid were now standing side by side. He really didn't know what to do at this point, even so much as to stop being in his battle stance.

He nodded his head in greetings, doing his best to look nonchalant, with an awkward half-smile on his face.

"Move!" Astrid said quickly.

She ran out of the way, leaving Hiccup vulnerable and alone. Just at that moment, the Gronkle's fire collided with Hiccup's bracer, sending him rolling across the arena.

"One shot left," Gobber pointed out with Hiccup groaning as he righted himself.

Hiccup rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head, looking at his arm bracer with a smirk. The plate had not been damaged at all as he got back up, _"Man… Meteor metal makes a hell of a piece of equipment."_

Groaning and cracking his neck, he slowly got back to his feet. However this wasn't the best of luck for him at this time. Now he only found himself cornered against the wall. And to make matters worse, the Gronkle was now advancing on him, with eyes only on him.

"Hiccup!" Gobber yelled out.

The Gronkle was just about to fire the shot that was sure to be Hiccup's doom. However, Hiccup snapped out of it at the last second, and used his power to create an illusion, which was his mother's specialty. He made several pale, phantasmal images of himself and they each began wailing with a horrid, ghostly scream, causing the others to cover their ears. Once again, the Gronkle's vision became disoriented; its vision of Hiccup became even more blurrier due to the noise Hiccup made with his ghosts, the noise, much closer to the dragon than before. When it least expected it, Hiccup had jumped up in the nick of time and used his hands to spin himself upside-down and slam his feet on the side of the Gronkle's face, repeatedly. The Gronkle had apparently had enough and spun itself around and slammed Hiccup into the opposite wall with it's clubbed tail, which dipersed the ghosts.

Hiccup grunted as he righted himself, as his shoulder had been popped out of place. He looked up and saw a fireball headed right for him. His eyes turned black and the fireball was redirected to hit the wall a few inches above his head.

He was about to charge the Gronkle with his sword held high, but Gobber had caught its lower jaw with his hook.

"And that's six," Gobber said struggling with the dragon, "Go back to bed, you overgrown sausage!" He shot at it, as he secured it back into its cage. "You'll get another chance, don't you worry." He turned to his students, who were all out of breath. "Remember, a dragon will always," he turned to Hiccup, who was leaning on the wall, and had realigned his shoulder, "… _always_ go for the kill."

Hiccup just stood up and looked at the smoldering hole in the stone wall that the dragon had made. He placed his sword back in its sheath, on his back. However, as he began to leave the arena, he was lost in thought. When he finally became aware of what he was doing, he decided he needed to go find the Night Fury again. So, when no one was looking, Hiccup disappeared into the forests of Berk once again.

"What were those ghost things he made?" Astrid asked Gobber.

"They're called "Darklings". Ghostly apparitions that are created only by those with the blood of members of the Covenant. Their screams can make a person go deaf if they're close and loud enough. In this case, it's the perfect weapon to use against the Gronkle, as you've just witnessed." He explained.

**In the Forest**

Hiccup continued to go down the path in the forest, seeking out the Night Fury. 'A dragon will always go for the kill.' Gobber's words repeated in Hiccup's head, as he walked closer and closer to where the creature had crashed. There, Hiccup stood only a few inches to where the cut up bola ropes lay on the ground in front of him.

_"So why didn't you?"_ He mentally asked himself, kneeling down and holding up the ropes that had once trapped the captured dragon.

Hiccup walked a little further into the forest, in the direction that the Night Fury flew away last time. It wasn't a hard task, considering the broken branches and paw prints. It seemed evident that the Night Fury must have been hurt. Otherwise, the dragon wouldn't have crashed so many times. He followed the trail until it led him to where the tracks and broken branches ended at.

Hiccup now was at the end of the trail, or so he thought it was. He stepped between two large rocks, and behind them laid a small canyon. It was surrounded by tall rock walls, much like the ones in the training arena. It was full of lush, green plants, the sun was shining into it, and there were birds fluttering about inside it. Even in the canyon, was a small lake in it, either used for swimming or drinking in. in some aspect, it was like a small private paradise for anyone who wanted to get away… or to hide in.

Hiccup took a look into the canyon, a bit disappointed that he didn't find the dragon. _"Well this was stupid,"_ He dejectedly thought. _"It's probably long gone by…"_

And just as he was about to leave, he looked down to his left and saw small black scales. He picked one up to get a better look at it. There was no mistaking anything about it; the scales that he held in his hand were identical to the Night Fury's scales. As he knelt down, a large, black figure swept by right in front of him. He jumped back a bit, but regained his footing as he looked to see what it was. It was the Night Fury, and it looked like it was trying to climb out of the canyon, but the rocks were too smooth for its claws to grab on to.

The dragon glided down and across the small lake that was centered in the canyon. It landed by a tree that was on the opposite end of the canyon from Hiccup. Summing up enough courage to do this, Hiccup jumped down to a rock ledge so he could get a better look at the dragon, as it tried once again to fly out again.

As the Night Fury attempted to escape the canyon, Hiccup decided not to waste an opportunity like this. Hiccup pulled out his pocket book from his side pouch, as he watched the dragon fail two more times to escape, flying around crookedly and always crashing flat on his belly. He drew the basic shape of the dragon: It was long with large wings, small fins right behind its wings, and two tail fins.

_"Why don't you just fly away?"_ It was only when he looked for a while at the dragon, did he take notice of it. He took a closer look at the dragon, and as he looked, he noticed that one of the tail fins was gone.

Hiccup looked at the picture he drew in his pocket book, and erased the left tail fin.

The Night Fury tried to fly out once more, only to crash by the lake. Just at that moment, a fish jumped out of the water, catching the Night Fury's attention. The dragon walked to the edge and peered in, anxiously looking for a meal. immediately, the dragon dove into the lake to catch one; the dragon's head came out of the water empty.

After watching the poor dragon come out empty handed, Hiccup felt bad for doing this to the dragon. He set down his charcoal pencil, but it rolled off the rock he was sitting on, landing in the canyon and giving away his cover.

The Night Fury looked up at Hiccup, its green eyes full of suspicion. Hiccup froze and stared back at the dragon, which cocked its head and made low grumbling noises. The two just stared at each other, forgetting that they were enemies, just trying to figure out one another. It was almost as if both Hiccup and the Night Fury were curious about one another; as if they were kindred spirits.

**Later that Day**

**Berk Council Building**

When Hiccup got back to the village it was raining heavily. When he finally got to the Berk Council building, he was already soaked from head to toe, and his normally auburn hair looked dark brown. He went to the same large stone building as to where Stoick had held his meeting over finding the Dragon's Nest. When he had entered, he found the rest of the class were eating dinner there since everyone's parents were with the chief, looking for the said Nest. As he opened the door, Hiccup could hear the conversation inside.

"Alright, where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asked his students.

"I mistimed my somersault dive," Astrid said, "It was sloppy; it threw off my reverse tumble."

"Yeah, we noticed." commented Ruffnut.

"No no, you were great. That was so you, Astrid." Snotlout tried to defend Astrid, and yet, like always, failed miserably.

"She's right," said Gobber as Hiccup walked up to the table. He was attempting to sit down in a spot, until Snotlout took his spot, preventing him from even finding a place to sit down."You have to be tough on yourselves." Sighing in defeat, Hiccup grabbed his plate of food and walked to a table where he would sit. Alone. "Now…" Gobber asked, pointing to Hiccup at this moment, "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

Ruffnut was quick to answer. "Uh, he showed up."

Tuffnut chuckled as he fiddled and played with his dagger. "He didn't get eaten."

"He was born," Snotlout shot out.

"He's never where he should be." Astrid said venomously, looking at him with a scolding look in her eyes.

He glared back at them with his black eyes, causing them all to flinch.

"Oooh, what are you gonna do, cast a spell on us?" Snotlout goaded. He was answered when Hiccup's knife shot through the air like an arrow and stopped dead, hovering a half-inch away from his throat, Tuffnut's dagger shot up and the tip of the blade was a quarter-inch away fron in between his eyes. They raised their arms in surrender and sat down.

Hiccup smirked as he sat down and began eating his dinner.

"Hiccup, Let 'em go!" Gobber ordered.

Hiccup's knife immediately withdrew from his cousin's throat and sheathed itself in his vest as Tuffnut's dagger fell to the table with a clatter. His eyes turned back to their normal emerald green, showing that his magic was finished.

"Thank you, Hiccup." Said Gobber, trying to diffuse the situation. "Hiccup used his powers to their greatest potential! Can't fault him for trying. You need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manual..." Gobber stated as he held up an old book, "...has knowledge of everything we know about every dragon we know of." He placed the book on the table where most of the class was sitting.

Thunder rolled through the sky and Gobber began to walk toward the two giant doors "No attacks tonight. Hurry up."

"Wait," Tuffnut asked in surprised shock, while dropping his knife, "… you mean, _read_?"

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut added.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you stuff about?" Snotlout said stupidly.

"Oh!" Said Fishlegs, excited, "I've read it like seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And… and there's this other one that buries itself for like a… "

Tuffnut cut him off, seemingly not interested at all, but more annoyed, "Yeah that sounds great. Now, there was a chance I was gonna read that…"

"… But, now?" Ruffnut finished.

Snotlout stood up, "You guys read… I'm gonna go workout, and go kill stuff." And with that, everyone, except Astrid, stood up and began to leave the room.

The two just sat there, not even speaking much of anything to each other. None of them barely even started to ring up a conversation at this time. Astrid barely even noticed Hiccup in the room at all, either that or she just didn't care to speak to him. But he decided now would probably be the best time to break the ice.

Hiccup got up and walked over to Astrid. He pointed to the book as he let out an unconfident half-smirk.

"Read it," Astrid sharply and curtly replied, pushing the book towards him, and started walking towards the door.

_"Uh, all mine then, wow,"_ Hiccup thought, looking a bit disappointed, but did his best to hide it. The door slammed as Astrid left, "…" Hiccup sighed, completely alone in the room. Unwanted, not needed, not even noticed by anyone.

**Late at Night**

**Berk Council Hall**

Later that night, Hiccup had found his way back to the council building. There, he opened the massive wooden doors and peered inside. And as to be expected, the room was dark and empty. Using a hovering candle for the only source of light available to him, he walked towards the table where the book lay. He set his candle down and sat on the bench. He used his power to make the book levitate, opening the large book, he began to read.

_"Dragon Classifications:"_ Hiccup read as he looked at the table of contents of the book, _"Strike class, Fear class, Mystery class."_

He turned to the first page, which bared a picture of a very monstrous looking dragon. The dragon looked like a giant mouth with a tail and two wings on its limbless body.

_"The ThunderDrum,"_ He read the description of the named dragon, _"This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide-pools. When startled, the Thunder Drum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."_ Hiccup cocked an eyebrow and a pondering frown, as he realized that he had never seen this dragon before. But after reading how it killed its opponents/victims, he didn't plan on meeting it anytime soon.

Hiccup then turned the page to reveal another dragon. _"The TimberJack,"_ the illustration showed a picture of a dragon with a long neck, beak, non-existent limbs, but it did have a pair of extremely large wings… that looked like razor sharp blades. _"This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."_

Hiccup turned the page again, seeing a dragon with a head resembling that of a turtle's. It was spewing water out at attacking Vikings, and they were either burned or melted. _"Scaldron-" _This was the dragon Fishlegs had been talking about._ "Sprays scalding water at it's victims. Extremely dangerous… "_ Hiccup was cut off by a loud boom of thunder, which startled him. He turned and only saw the door slightly open, showing lighting and rain were still going on outside. Once he realized that nothing was there, he turned back to the book and began to read again.

_"Changeling-"_ he read, as he turned the page again, _"Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."_

As he flipped through the pages he saw the more common dragons: Napper, Terrible Terror, Gronkle, ZippleBack, Monstrous Nightmare, Bone-Napper. There were so many dragons, and all had nasty ways of killing it's prey. And they all said the exact same thing: Extremely vicious, Kill on Sight.

Hiccup continued to read them, _"Burns it's victims, buries it's victims, chokes it's victims, turns it's victims inside-out."_ Hiccup continued to flip through the many pages. Under most dragons was written 'Extremely dangerous' and under every single dragon 'Kill on sight.' was written in large, bold letters.

He stopped once he reached the practically blank page that was titled Night Fury, and he began to read what little information there was about it.

_"The Night Fury,"_ Hiccup read what was known about it, _"Speed: Unknown. Size: Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you."_

Hiccup pulled out his pocket book from the pocket inside his vest, and opened it to the page where the picture of the Night Fury was. Surely from what he saw in the canyon, this dragon couldn't be as bad as the manual said it was. Sure the species had destroyed hundreds of Viking houses, but with one flaw as simple as a faulty tail fin, this dragon was nothing harmful like he was.

Good as dead.

And plus, once it was freed from the ropes, it hadn't killed Hiccup when it had the chance.

Hiccup decided he better get to bed, he had another day of training in the morning. He put his pocket book away and closed the Dragon Manual. Levitating his, almost, burnt out candle, he left the dark stone room and headed through the still raging storm to his house.

Though as he left to go home, he thought of his father, Stoick, and the deal they had made again. Well, the deal his father made in their one-voiced deal. He had been dwelling on it ever since he 'agreed' to it. He didn't want to disappoint his father, but he didn't want to kill any dragons, not after when he freed the Night Fury.

And even more so, he also wanted to learn more about the Night Fury in the canyon. It was only in his nature to want to know more. He may not have been strong like his father was, but he made up for it with his intelligence and curiosity. He decided that after training tomorrow, he would ask Gobber for more information on Night Furies, seeing as the manual didn't help him much.

**Elsewhere**

**Out at Sea**

The mighty fleet of Vikings ships continued to sail along the oceans, reaching the border of a fogged up section of the ocean. Stoick was fervently glaring at the map, obsessed with finding the nest. "It's out there," he told himself as he looked out to their next search target, "I can practically smell the dragons' brimstone."

The fog was so thick, you could barely able to see the ocean floor in it, let alone the skies that it blanketed. It was known to those of the Hairy Hooligan Vikings of Berk, as well as other tribes all over the European area, as the Gates of Helhydan, as some religious explorers had known to call it. And this was perhaps to where Stoick hoped to find the nest.

"Take us in," he ordered the others.

The ships then made their turns into the fogged up abyss, nearly disappearing as the last ship sunk right into it. It was quiet for only fifteen minutes… until the roar of a Monstrous Nightmare could be heard, and seen within the darkened thick fog were flames being spewed in all directions.

**The Next Day**

**Back in Berk**

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

Hiccup had woken up early enough, so that he could get ready and make it to the training arena in time for Gobber's next training lesson. Yesterday, Gobber had said they would be working with a Deadly Nadder today. Now from what every Viking, adult and teenager, had heard, Nadders were considered one of the less dangerous dragons, but they still seemed pretty deadly, even to Hiccup.

From what he read from the book last night, Nadders were normally a bright shade of blue, with pale yellow stripes, but they could range in different colors; from dark blue to even purple with orange stripes. They had large heads equipped with a large crown of spikes on the back, and one spike on the nose. In truth, their heads were shaped to be similar to a parrot, or some sort of bird predator. They had fairly big wings, in which some were considered to be tiny, and no arms, and their tails were covered with sharp quills that flexed in and out like a porcupine's, and that could be shot at their victims like darts.

He walked across the wooden suspension bridge, and at the other end of it was the arena. When Hiccup got close enough to see the ring, and ran on in, he stopped as he noticed a bunch of wooden barriers were set up inside. The walls had made maze like hallways and barriers. What Gobber had planned in this kind of training, only Gobber knew and wasn't telling.

As usual, the other Viking teenagers, including Astrid, were waiting for him when he got there. They all looked very displeased that they had to wait for him. Hiccup grabbed his sword and fixed his arm bracer and stepped inside. The other teens just did their best to ignore him

"Alright," said Gobber as he suddenly appeared from behind one of the barriers. Well, in truth, he was outside the coliseum, looking down at the teenagers, leaning down on one of the railings as his prosthetic hammer hand was swinging on the side. "I'll be lettin' the dragon out. Take yer places," he left the ring, and shut the doors behind him.

Hiccup backed up against one of the wooden walls, as he heard the door to the Nadder's cage open. He looked up and saw Gobber, watching down on them. Hiccup was going to ask him about Night Furies then and there, but decided to wait if he lived through this training regimen.

"Today," Gobber stated calmly as he began his lecture, "… is all about ATTACK! Nadders are quick and light on their feet. You're job is to be quicker and lighter!"

Jumping up and perched itself on the wall, was the dragon for the day. It was probably around eleven feet in height, sixteen in length, with the skeletal structure of an eagle. It was bipedal and its arms were twelve foot wings. However, its was colored a bright blue, with a light yellow/white underbelly, and its wings were a combination of yellow, orange and green. Its head was somewhat in bird-designed, with its one horned nose ending at a beak hook, and on the back of its head was a crown of spikes that flexed like a parrot's feathered head. Its long blue and yellow striped tail was coated with a series of venomous spikes that could flex out like the mane, but inject venom. This was the Deadly Nadder, the most beautiful of all the dragons, and one of the fastest, as well as having the hottest fire breath out of all the known dragons.

The Nadder was now perched on the wooden walls, jumping easily from one wall to the next. It lifted its spiked tail in the air and launched a battery of quills into Fishlegs' shield.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods!" He yelled out in a running storm, as he ran blindingly through the maze.

"Look for it's blind spot," Gobber said, looking bored as his students ran for their lives. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and then strike."

Hiccup ran through one of the passageways, going past the twins as he did so. Ruffnut and Tuffnut ran around a corner, just to find themselves standing face to face with the Deadly Nadder. Ruffnut was standing right behind Tuffnut, who was trying to get out of the dragon's face. It seemed to work, as with the twins standing six inches from its beaked maw. They had unintentionally found the blind spot, and were completely unseen, until Ruffnut took one whiff, and her face contorted with disgust.

"Yuck, do you ever bathe?" she asked Tuffnut.

"Marinate in it, Babe," Tuffnut said, pushing his sister back. "If you don't like it then get your own blind spot."

"How about I give you one!" Ruffnut threatened, as she pushed back.

Tuffnut didn't have time to respond, because right after she said it, the Nadder expelled a great deal of piping hot fire. Tuffnut and Ruffnut got out of the way before they became dragon food.

"Blind spot, yes. Deaf spot, not so much," Gobber commented.

Astrid and Snotlout ran through the maze, while Hiccup strolled like he was without a care in the world.

However, Hiccup turned around, and saw Astrid, and Snotlout hiding behind their shields. Astrid was making a gesture that obviously meant, '_Get down!'_ Her scowling glare at him was obvious of that assumption.

Hiccup got down and hid behind them. Astrid peered around the corner of one of the barriers, and saw the Nadder sniffing at the ground. The very scene filled the young teen girl Viking with an adrenaline rush to help her in this test. She skillfully and quietly rolled passed the dragon to the other side of the hallway, Snotlout followed.

When Hiccup tried to copy the two, he failed tremendously. His roll was perfect, except for one minor flaw at the finish. He didn't complete the roll, and came to a stop right in front of the Nadder, catching its attention. He quickly stood up and scurried away, just before the Nadder could take a bite out of him.

The dragon jumped up on the walls again and roared in frustration. It found both Astrid and Snotlout, and jumped down in front of them.

"Watch out Babe, I'll take care of this," Snotlout said, holding up his hammer, in another attempt to impress Astrid. He threw it right at the Nadder, but missed it completely as it went passed its left side, and slammed into one of the walls. Astrid shook her head as she looked at him, unimpressed.

"The sun was in my eyes, Astrid!" Snotlout stated, trying his best to make excuses.

The dragon blew a mighty stream of fire at them, as they ran down another passageway. As it did so, the teens continued to dodge the flames as Snotlout did his best to impress Astrid. However, that didn't do so well, even for his best material. "What do you want me to do, block out the sun? I can't do that, That's Hiccup's thing..."

Snotlout ran down a different hallway than Astrid, and the Nadder followed her. The Dragon flew wildly at her. It's angry roars filled the arena. It knocked over anything in it's way. All it wanted now, was to get Astrid.

Just at that moment, Hiccup turned around when he heard Astrid yelling. And adding much surprise to Hiccup, the Nadder was right on her heels.

Astrid was on top of one of the falling walls and jumped, landing right in Hiccup's arms. As the dust cleared a bit, both the twins looked at the now somewhat awkward scene.

"Oooh, love on the battle-field," Tuffnut teased.

"She could do better," Ruffnut chimed in.

Feeling rather embarrassed, but more angry at this, Astrid tried to pull away. But to no avail as he reused to let her go. She shot out, "Let me…"

Hiccup didn't allow her to finish her complaint for the Nadder had dove at them and he had jumped into the air. She subconciously wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight as he dodged the Nadder's deadly jaws.

His eyes turned black, showing that he was using his power. Astrid felt her arms release him and her body fly through the air to the other side of the arena. "What are you doing!" She screamed before landing roughly on the ground.

He didn't pay attention to her, as he was busy dodging the Nadder's strikes and flames with swift agility and grace that only someone as lean as he can possess.

The Nadder had grown frustrated at the skinny human's movements. It lifted its spiked tail in the air and launched a battery of quills towards Hiccup.

Hiccup smirked with his black eyes glaring in the sunlight. He drew his sword and began slicing it through the spikes and they were shred upon impact with the jet-black blade.

The others were mesmerized by his movements. It was like he was just toying with the creature.

The Nadder grew even more angry at the human's weapon making its deadly spikes seem like mosquitoes and launched itself at him with murderous intent.

_"This is too easy!"_ Hiccup thought and moved to sidestep it. Only, he felt his strength leave him instantly and he fell on his side. _"No! Too many spells at once."_ He thought. He tried to move but he was paralyzed.

The Nadder was about to take advantage of his weakened state, but Astrid had slapped the dragon away with the side of her axe and landed on Hiccups face.

"Well done, Astrid," Gobber called out as he walked back on the training ground, escorting the Nadder back into its cage.

Astrid caught her breath and turned around to face Hiccup, who was getting back up on his feet. He rubbed his face in slight pain for being stepped on like that. He stood straight up as Astrid shoved him forcefully, venomously lecturing him. "Is this some kind of a joke to you?"

Hiccup raised a brow and shook his head in defense as he tried his best to calm her.

"Are you just here to screw everything up? Like you always do?" She jabbed her finger into his shoulder, pushing him back with all three questions, "Our parents' war is about to become ours," she leaned towards him and put her axe in his face. "You had better figure out which side you're on." She turned around and walked away, her friends following her.

"Fweet!" He whistled to get her attention. Astrid turned around, as did everyone else to see him approach her with black eyes and his tongue was pressing against the left side of his cheek. He suddenly reached his forefinger and thumb into his mouth. With a grunt, he yanked out a bicuspid. He spat out some blood and held out the tooth out for them to see. His book flew out of his vest and his pencil began writing.

_"A tooth! You happy?"_ He flicked the tooth at her and it slapped her on the forehead._ "Step on me again and you'll find out just how much of a screw-up I am."_ He wrote before walking away in a huff with his book flying back into his vest.

"Is that a challenge, mute-boy?" She asked while fingering her axe handle.

He suddenly stopped, did a 180 turn, and looked at her with a smirk adorning his face. He grasped Ebony's hilt and yanked it out. He placed the tip of the blade in the dirt and drew a single line between them.

"A'right! A'right! Astrid and Hiccup, back in the ring. The rest of ya, with me." Gobber ordered.

They did as they were told and eagerly watched as Hiccup was about to get his ass handed to him.

"It's time for you to know your place." She said.

He responded by flipping her the bird.

"Get him, Astrid!" Snotlout cheered.

She growled and sprinted towards him with her axe above her head. Hiccup responded by blocking with his bracer and attempting a slash with his blade. She dodged and spun around to add momentum to her swing. He intercepted with his blade and Astrid recieved a shock. Her axe was cleaved through like it was nothing. He recieved a cut above his eye from the flying half of the axe for his trouble. He took advantage of her shock by kneeing her in the stomach, causing her to fall on the ground and clutch her midriff, and he finished it by pressing the tip of his sword to her throat.

"Hiccup, enough!" Gobber yelled and grabbed his bicep to pull him away from her. The others gathered around her and pulled her to her feet, all were trying to ask her what happened, or trying to tell her it was just luck, in Snotlout's case.

"He was just lucky! You can kick his ass any day of the week!" He blurted.

Astrid responded by holding up her half-axe, "Did luck cut my axe clean in half?" She sarcastically asked. She fixed her glare on Hiccup's form as he exited the stadium. _"Next time, he won't be so lucky!"_ She vowed.

Hiccup left the ring with a snarl, rubbing the blood out of his right eye. He pulled out Ebony to use as a cane and immediately decided what he was going to do next. He limped to his house, where he grabbed a fish. He made sure no one was looking, and quietly and unnoticing made his way into the forest.

"If anything, you're the one that was lucky, Lass." Gobber said.

"What?" Astrid heatedly asked.

"What ye just saw was a glimmer of the rage he's been keepin' bottled for the last decade. Ye'd best watch yeself else ye'd find yeself cut ta ribbons." He advised.

Astrid scoffed skeptically but left the arena deep in thought, the others following her.

**Deep in the Forest**

When he got to the canyon that the Night Fury had trapped itself in, he found a lower entrance so he wouldn't have to climb in. He hid between two rocks just at the entrance and threw the fish inside, but nothing happened. He grunted in irritation and leapt to the fish and picked it up.

He walked around the area, but there was no sight of the dragon anywhere. Unaware of it, not one bit as he walked in there, the dragon was not far from him. Hiding behind the rocks behind Hiccup, the Night Fury was crouching on it, looking at the Viking teenager. The Night Fury crawled out from the rocks, causing Hiccup to turn around immediately and gasp. The dragon walked around him as it walked in a crouched position, carefully observing the Viking in case he tried to attack it again.

Deciding to try and make peace with it, he held out the fish in hopes that the dragon would take it nicely. The Night Fury immediately spotted the fish, and seemed to relax a bit. This was made evident as the slit eyes then dilated into bit round irises, almost as if the dragon was some sort of kitten/puppy. Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at this; the fear leaving him completely.

The creature inched forward and opened it's mouth, exposing healthy pink gums, not being noticed by Hiccup at all. As soon as it got close, realization came to its eyes and it backed off.

Hiccup immediately knew that it knew he had a weapon. He sighed as he used the hand that still held the fish, and pointed at the sword. The Night Fury hissed as he pulled it out and threw it like a spear into a tree.

However, the Night Fury was still hissing, as Hiccup realized that he had one more weapon. He reached into his vest and pulled out his knife, his only other weapon he ever used. The dragon growled at him, but he dropped it on the ground. The Night Fury motioned it's head towards the water, as if it… or he… was trying to tell Hiccup to kick the knife away.

Hiccup lifted the knife up with his foot, and tossed it into a boulder. As soon as the dragon heard the knife hit the rock, it sat down, and it's haunches and looked at Hiccup with big, expecting eyes; it's ear twitching. Once again, this made Hiccup smile at this scene, thinking the Night Fury, the one Dragon that everyone thought was the devil, was some kind of innocent little kitten/puppy.

Hiccup held out the fish again and the dragon inched closer. When it got close enough it opened it mouth again. Hiccup now noticed the pink gums, not a tooth in sight.

_"Huh, toothless,"_ He thought, holding out the fish, _"I could of sworn you had…"_ Just as he thought it, rows of teeth suddenly appeared in the dragons mouth. The not so toothless dragon snatched the fish out of Hiccups hands, bit it in two, and swallowed it. _"Teeth."_ Hiccup finished as the dragon licked its lips with its thick forked tongue.

_"They're retractable just like a cat's claws,"_ Hiccup thought as he looked at the dragon, _'That must be for when it shoots out a firebolt. To make sure it doesn't blow out its own teeth.'_ He thought with a half smirk, _"That's interesting."_

The dragon looked at Hiccup and walked towards him, making low rumbling noises deep in it's throat. Hiccup backed up until he stumbled into a large rock and sat down in front of it.

Hiccup held his hands in front of himself nervously, as the dragon got right in his face.

The dragons eyes rolled back and it started to convulse. It opened it's mouth, and out came half of the fish Hiccup gave it. The fish landed on his lap, as he nearly gagged, _"Ugh…"_

And then the dragon sat down, human position-wise, and looked at Hiccup. Hiccup sat there uncomfortably while the dragon stared at him. He looked straight at the dragon, and the dragon just looked at him.

Hiccup cocked an eyebrow as the dragon gestured to him then the fish. Realizing what the dragon wanted, Hiccup groaned. The Dragon merely looked at him, silently giving Hiccup the answer, as the boy sighed in disgust.

He slowly brought the fish up towards his mouth and bit into it. And immediately, it tasted absolutely disgusting.

"Mmm," Hiccup mumbled, trying to show the dragon that he ate the fish. But it was pretty obvious that it was smarter than he thought. The dragon made a loud gulping noise, telling him to swallow it.

Hiccup just groaned, _"You've gotta be kidding me."_ With all his might, mostly from his stomach, he tried to force down the disgusting, once already-eaten-but-thrown-up fish. It took a few tries, one try to ensure he wouldn't puke it out, but he succeeded, as he gulped down the fish and shivered from the bad taste now swimming around in his mouth.

The Night Fury licked its lips again, and Hiccup looked at it and smiled a very, very, goofy smile. The dragon looked at him and squinted its eyes, studying the boy's facial features now. Then in a few seconds of silence, the sides of its mouth came up in a weird sort of toothless smile, since it had retracted its teeth again.

"Toothless." He whispered *GASP*

He spoke!

For the first time in around ten years, he had spoken. A little raspy, but hell, it's been a freakin' decade and he's just spoken.

"Would you mind me calling you Toothless?" He rasped.

He looked at the dragon's silly attempt at a smile, stifling a chuckle or two of his own. Without thinking, he got back on to his feet, and reached out his right hand to touch the dragon. But before he could even get close to him, it bared its teeth and glided to the other end of the canyon and landed roughly.

It lit the ground it stood atop of, on fire, and laid down in the warm flames. He folded his wings in the back, but they were left open still and spread out on both sides, and had his tail curled nearly up to his stomach as he relaxed in his spot. Toothless looked up to see a bird taking off from it's perch on a branch and fly away, his ears standing straight up. When his gaze followed the bird his eyes fell on Hiccup, who had moved from the other end of the canyon and was now sitting Indian style on the ground beside Toothless.

"Hi!" Hiccup waved casually to the dragon, as if it was just common for the boy and dragon to act all buddy, buddy.

The dragon put his ears back against his head, and groaned. Though it wasn't an angered groan or a groan of hatred, just more annoyed. Toothless then shifted his body so that when he laid down, he could hide his face with his remaining tail-fin.

Hiccup sighed at this, knowing it wasn't gonna be easy to get on this dragon's good side. He then scooted closer to the dragon and reached out his hand, trying to touch him again. But right before he could place his hand on the dragon's tail, Toothless folded his tail fin down and out of the way, just in time to see Hiccup.

Not wanting the dragon to notice what he was trying to do, which it obviously did, Hiccup shot up, rotated 180 degrees around on his heel, and comically walked away. Toothless walked over to a large tree, then jumped up on one of the stronger branches, and perched itself on a branch. Amazingly, he was able to do this by hanging upside down by his tail, and hiding within his wings, like a bat.

**Evening**

When the sun was lowering in the sky, Toothless unfurled his wings and looked around the canyon. For a moment, he didn't expect the human Viking teen to still be around. But he was proven himself wrong as he took a gander at the lake. He saw Hiccup sitting on a small rock not facing him. The dragon was a bit amazed at this persistence; he had stayed the entire day, and didn't even run. Why did he do that? Why did he just stay and not try to touch him again? This human was a complete puzzle to the Night Fury indeed. He noticed the human was doing something over there, and curiosity brought Toothless to go investigate.

Hiccup was bored, and boy was he, though he had tried to practice speaking and he managed to sound less raspy. He was mindlessly using his powers to draw in the dirt with his knife, which he moved out of the rock with his powers, when he noticed the large black beast watching him from behind. Deciding not to turn around, in fear that the dragon would just try to roast him or just get away, Hiccup decided to continue with his drawing, almost acting like he didn't notice Toothless behind him at all. With a few motions of the knife the lines in the dirt began to take the shape of a dragon, and then it became the shape of Toothless.

The dragon watched intently with large eyes, as Hiccup drew him into the dirt. While he watched, soft purring noises came from his throat, and being the intelligent dragon that he was, Toothless got an idea. He stood up on his hind legs, and waddled back to where he was sleeping.

Hiccup looked back in confusion as he saw Toothless grab a large tree branch in his mouth, and drag it over to where he had been sitting. Toothless held the branch in his mouth, and pressed it against the ground and began to twirl around the rock Hiccup was seated on. He stopped a few times to look at Hiccup and make sure his drawing was correct, and then he continued to spin around and around has he copied Hiccup's ways.

Once he was satisfied with his picture, Toothless put the branch down a sat on the ground. Hiccup was in the middle of the drawing and he stood up to get a better view of the swirls in the dirt. After careful observation, Hiccup was astound as to what he figured what the swirls and scribbles were. It was an attempted drawing of himself; the dragon attempted to draw him, just as he drew Toothless.

He went to walk out of the drawing when he stepped on one of the lines. Toothless let out a furious growl, baring his teeth. Hiccup took his foot off the line and Toothless' expression became one of curiosity and wonder, and he began to purr softly. The previous anger immediately forgotten.

After seeing this, Hiccup smiled deviously and decided to experiment on the subject, and put his foot back on the line. Sure enough, the dragon's expression became vicious again, and when he took it off, Toothless began to purr again. Hiccup tried this a few more times but stopped before Toothless got too mad. The last thing he wanted was to get eaten just for stepping on a picture.

Hiccup smiled at the dragon and began to weave through the lines, placing his feet in the right places like a graceful dance. He twirled and swirled through the lines until he felt breathing down his neck. He turned around and looked up to see Toothless gazing at him, without any ferocity in his eyes.

Hiccup slowly lifted up his hand, and Toothless let out a growl, slightly showing his teeth, but this time he didn't back up or run away. Hiccup put his head down and closed his eyes, slowly putting up his hand again. It stopped a few inches before the dragon's nose.

Toothless' eyes open wide as he looked at the boys hand, and slowly, very slowly, he closed his eyes…

… and placed his head lightly in Hiccup's hand, purring softly.

Hiccup lifted his head and looked at the dragon in disbelief. When Toothless opened his eyes and saw Hiccup staring at him he shook his head, pupils contracting, and he took off back to where he was sleeping. Hiccup just stood there for a minute to grasp on to what had just happened.

He decided that since he made so much progress with Toothless, and that it was getting late that he better start walking back to the village. He felt ecstatic as he walked; He had spoken for the first time since his mother's death, though he'd have to keep up the charade as the 'Mute boy' around the village. They'd be curious as to when he'd first begun speaking again and who it was to. Toothless had actually let him touch him and the feeling of that was amazing. Hiccup couldn't wait for the next time when he'd get to see him again.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone, Here's the third chapter. Enjoy!

Hiccup had returned to Berk village afterwards, feeling a bit more chipper due to the connection he and his new friend, Toothless, had found. But that would just have to remain as a secret; if anyone else found about their friendship, big trouble would be in store for the two. But for now, he was gonna enjoy the night. Well, at least try to enjoy it. Tonight, Gobber had invited the young Viking dragon slayer trainees for a dusk bonfire feast, in honor of a successful training week. The Success: there were no casualties, including Hiccup. However, the rough part for Hiccup, as he waited for his fish to cook, was having to listen to one of Gobber's old dragon hunting stories.

"… Took my hand, and swallowed it whole," Gobber told his students, while roasting a chicken on the open bonfire with his makeshift shiscabob hand. "And I could read what he said by the look on his face: I was delicious. Well, he must've passed the word, for it wasn't until a month later, when another came by," then he pointed to his peg leg as he finished, "… and took my leg."

The students, minus Hiccup and, surprisingly, Astrid, were all in awe at the veteran Viking's tale.

"Isn't it weird? I mean to think that your hand was inside a dragon," Fishlegs began as he stated, motioning his drumsticks, "Like if your mind was still in control of it, then you could've killed that dragon just by crushing its heart, or something."

The teens looked at their RPG lingo-slanging comrade with dumbfounded gazes. The only one who didn't look at him as such, was Hiccup, who was picking at his fish. He was still lost in thought, thinking about Toothless, and to figure out his dysfunctional flying problems.

"I swear, I'm so angry right now," snarled Snotlout as he glared at his still cooking chicken. He then looked to Gobber as he swore, "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and foot! I'll rip the legs of every dragon I slay… with my own face!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes and scoffed at his cousins idiocy.

Gobber chuckled as he tore the wings off his chicken, and made an excellent piece of advice to all the Vikings, "Na-Ah, Snotlout. It's the wings and the tail fins you need to rip off. Without them, they either can't fly or they can't steer while in flight." When Gobber said that, Hiccup immediately perked up, absorbing that last bit of information, as the Viking finished, "Remember: a Downed Dragon… is a Dead Dragon."

Hiccup took that in very deeply, and felt even more responsible for when he shot down Toothless. Now he knew why the Night Fury couldn't get out of the canyon. The bolas that he shot must've somehow shredded the left tail fin, and in the process, caused an imbalance in Toothless's flying capabilities. Now… now, he had to think of a way to restore it back to him.

"Hey, Wimpy!" Ruffnut called out, getting the blacksmith apprentice's attention, "Hey, you alive on us?"

He flipped her off to show that he heard her.

"Man, I'm hopin' to fight the Nightmare in the ring," Tuffnut blurted, leaning back to relax. "It's my destiny to fight one. See?" he then lifted his arm, showing an unknown mark to Fishlegs.

"Whoa," the large teen Viking was struck in awe, "When'd you get a tattoo?"

"It's a birthmark," Tuffnut monotonously commented.

Ruffnut, not believing one word of it, interrupted, "I've been stuck with you since birth, and I've never seen that."

"Hey, Hiccup, why don' you show em' yours." Gobber suggested.

_"Aw crap, here we go!"_ Hiccup glared briefly at his mentor and glanced back at the teens that were curiously staring at him. He sighed and took off his vest, followed by his shirt.

They were surprised, especially Astrid and Ruffnut, by the fact that his muscles were merely lean, rather than nonexistent.

Hiccup groaned and turned around.

They all, minus Gobber, gasped at the gothic black cross with a black, flaming ring adorning his entire back.

"Where'd you get something as cool as that?" Tuffnut asked.

Hiccup looked at Gobber and nodded.

"It was placed on him at birth, it's a symbol given to those who are born with the blood of the Covenant. Namely, his mother's side of the family." He explained and ate more of his chicken.

"It's nothing special." Snotlout grumbled.

"Ya think so? A'right, Your strength back to normal, Hiccup?" Gobber asked.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Give this lot a demonstration of ya' true powers, will ya?" He suggested.

Hiccup fixed him with a look that said "You owe me for this" before turning to the ocean. His eyes turned black and he threw his hand out to the side. A low whistling was heard before a black wooden staff flew into his hand.

"Where'd he get that?" Fishlegs asked.

"It was his mum's favorite weapon. She left it for 'im when she died. It's a special wood made out of shadow oak, the strongest wood in the world, and as black as the darkest shadow." Gobber explained.

_"Time to get this show on the road, Mum."_ He thought. He began twirling the staff and demonstrating some impressive agility and footwork as the staff practically wrapped around him. He spun it in his front, behind him, even below as he flipped through the air in a handless cartwheel.

They beheld as the sky turned dark with storm clouds. He raised his staff and lightning began crackling through the sky. The flames behind him danced with increased fervor. He finally threw his arms out to his sides and the ocean before him erupted into the air, as though a gust of wind was blowing it upwards. It all suddenly stopped as Hiccup dropped unceremoniously to his knees, panting and gasping with sweat beading down his body, his staff clattering to the ground beside him.

"Thank ye, Hiccup! Go on back home an' rest, now." Gobber said.

Hiccup shook his head as he grabbed the staff and used it as a walking stick to get back to his seat.

"Oh, I've got a good story," Gobber stated out as he turned to the students, "That's when Stoick and I had fought about eleven Sea Dragons that tried to gobble us up after a five-day swimming contest." But he stopped as he scratched his chin, "Or was it nine Sea Dragons?"

"That was awesome!" Ruffnut exclaimed, completely ignoring Gobber.

"That was probably bogus, just a natural occurance or something." Tuffnut pathetically countered.

As the twins were continuing their argument, Astrid heard creaking footsteps from the watchpost's stairwell. She got up, and walked to it to see who was walking down. Hiccup's tatooed back was seen making his way down the stairs, as the female Viking looked at his disappearing form in confusion and suspicion. Her eyes squinted in silent thought about it, but shrugged as she told herself, "Why do I care what that weakling coward does?" She then turned back to the fire as she huffed, "It's not like he's got anything special to do." She screamed as Hiccup's sword pierced through the floor beside her foot, it yanked itself back down a second later.

"I think he 'eard the 'weakling coward' comment." Gobber stated matter-of-factly before laughing at her flushed face.

"What's the deal with those powers?" Fishlegs asked.

"Do they have a weakness?" Astrid asked furiously.

"Ye saw it's weakness just a few hours ago, Astrid. His abilities don' have an unlimited supply, it's all dependent on his physical state." They all looked at him confusingly, so he clarified.

"His powers never waver, his body does. The more he uses it, or the stronger the spell, the weaker he gets." He paused to take a bite out of his chicken. "He was born with the powers, as were all males with the bloodline, it was jus' dormant 'til he turned thirteen, then he got a taste of it. It was a 'test' so to speak. Between the ages of sixteen an' eighteen, he ascends an' his powers fully mature, an' it's seductive. Some of 'em can handle the power, others can't, an' their powers go out of control until their bodies are completely drained o' life. Hiccup is the last of his people, as far as we all know, because they couldn't handle the ascension." He finished as he threw the rest of his chicken in the ocean. He left the young ones to their thoughts and headed home.

"Don't you all think you should try to be a little nicer to him?" Fishlegs suddenly asked.

"Why?" Snotlout shot back.

"Well, let's face it! He's stronger than any of us originally thought. He beat Astrid earlier today and she's the toughest one amongst us." He used caution in those words.

"I underestimated him! Next time, he's dead." Astrid exclaimed, hotly.

"Look, I'm not going to keep up this farce and say that he's weak. I'm gonna let go of my pride and say that I was wrong about him. I suggest you all do the same." He said before leaving.

They all sighed and began contemplating.

"I'll try it." Ruffnut and Tuffnut said, simultaneously.

"I don't care about how he was treated by us or anyone. All I care about is the next chance I get to fight him and prove that I'm the better fighter." Astrid snapped and stormed off of the watchpost, Snotlout obediently followed her.

**Later that Night**

**Blacksmith building**

The light was on in the blacksmith shop, as Hiccup put away his equipment and began working. He brought out his note/sketchbook, as well as a few well done doodles of Toothless. He immediately opened up the book to the page, detailing a diagram picture of the Night Fury, Toothless. He took his pencil and studied the tail fins very carefully, and then began to sketch a design on a bigger sheet of paper. After he was done sketching and looked over the blueprints, he nodded to himself and began to work.

Hiccup snapped his fingers and the coals ignited within the furnace, heating the fires as he began the next step. He heated up a slab of metal, and when it was soft enough, he brought it over to beat it into the desired shape he had in mind. He dunked the shape in the water and proceeded to the next one. He then began to take apart a few Viking shields that weren't salvageable, and proceeded to melt, mold, and cool down more components… until finally, the object was completed.

It was an exact replica prosthetic of a tail fin for a Night Fury. Hiccup folded the artificial fin and out, making sure that he had been very detailed on this little piece of equipment. Five steel bone spikes attached to a brown piece of cloth, and onto a strap on cloth with two strap bands on it. In truth, it looked very much identical to a part of Toothless's tail.

Hiccup smirked at this accomplishment as he folded it back, and looked at the prints, "He's gonna love this." He whispered.

**Next Morning**

**Back in the Night Fury's Hideout**

Hiccup yelled out to his Night Fury friend, as he strode on in, happy as a clown, his eyes black.

He looked around, hoping to find the dragon that he now called friend. Strapped to his back was the artificial tail fin, and moving several feet behind him, was a large basket, full of something else. He continued to look around, thinking that Toothless was hiding from him like he did before. However, that wasn't the case, as he saw Toothless curled up by a rock, relaxing or sleeping at this point. Hiccup couldn't help but smile at this, knowing now that the dragon trusted him.

Hiccup smiled and whistled at him.

This caught Toothless's attention as his ears perked up, looking at the human that came by. He saw that Hiccup was carrying some weird looking thing on his back, and a basket was following him. Whatever it was, looked to be too much for the boy to just simply carry it over to him. Either that, or the boy wasn't as strong as most Vikings his age should have been.

Hiccup stopped in front of Toothless, as the dragon got up on all fours, and slowly circled the boy in curiosity. Hiccup knocked over the basket, opening it up, and spilling the contents out, as it made a sort of slimy sound. Hiccup recoiled slightly at the smell.

Toothless cocked an eyebrow at that action, but the dragon's face was lit up with delight. It seemed that Hiccup had brought with him a whole basket of fish, each a different variety. In all of his life, the Night Fury had never seen this much different fish clustered together. But in all his life, Toothless had never been given fish at all by any human, except the boy that had stayed and befriended him.

Hiccup smiled as the Night Fury began digging through the fish. He took this moment to slip beside him and inch to his tail.

Immediately, Toothless backed away, snarling at the fish pile. Hiccup stopped from his attempts to fasten the tail fin on, when he heard his dragon snarling like that. But it wasn't the snarl you'd hear out of anger, more like one if you'd hear a dragon cringe in fear. Hiccup arched an eyebrow as he walked to the pile; his face scrunching in concentrated thought as he knelt over the pile of fish. He looked to Toothless, getting as to where he was looking at, and immediately spotted it. Sure enough, it was a yellow and black striped eel, as Hiccup picked it up, hanging it for Toothless to see.

The dragon immediately cringed back, halfway bringing his wings out, his ears pulled to the back, and his teeth shooting out as his eyes slit up. Hiccup looked at Toothless and back to the eel, as he wondered, _"He's afraid of this?"_ Toothless immediately snarled in fear as he nearly jumped back, when Hiccup slightly let the eel swing. Not wanting to scare the dragon any further, Hiccup threw the eel away. Immediately, Toothless calmed down and went back to the fish. "Yeah, I don't like eel much, either." He muttered.

Now that the eel was gone, Toothless was free to dig in the fish pile. Hiccup smirked at the scene, and while he was eating the fish, he had the chance to strap on the new tail fin. "Don't you mind me, I'll be back here," Hiccup told him as he knelt down at the end of the tail, "Minding my own business."

He set the artificial fin down, and set it ready to strap on to the finless part of the tail. However, it proved a challenge on to itself, as Toothless moved his tail, twitching it slightly. Hiccup turned to see if Toothless had noticed what he was doing, but thankfully his luck held out. The dragon was more focused on eating the fish than anything else, even as he dunked his head into the basket to eat a fish he had spotted there.

As he saw this, Hiccup decided to hop on top of the tail, to keep it from swinging around. Now that he was on it, it refused to swing around, giving him the chance to fasten the fin on. He pulled it over, and positioned it correctly in parallel with the real fin. As Hiccup strapped the tail, on, Toothless rose up; the basket falling off his face as he felt something at his tail. He turned his head sideways, to see what was going on and saw Hiccup. He pulled back to the front; his eyes going wide and his ears pulled back.

As Hiccup made the final fastening on the belts, he sighed in success as he sat up to look at his handiwork.. The Viking boy was completely unaware of the Night Fury's wings, slowly folding out and stretching to the sides, almost as if he was about to take off.

"Alright," Hiccup reassured himself as he opened the tail fin, and examined it with the real one. They were almost completely identical, save for the fact that the artificial one was brown instead of black. Hiccup crossed his arm as he stroked his chin in accomplishment, "That's not too bad. It'll work, if I can see it in…"

Suddenly, Toothless shot up in the air, taking a startled and panicking Hiccup, as he grabbed onto the tail, holding for dear life. The dragon soared above the lake, making its way to the other side of the hidden canyon. So far, Toothless wasn't crashing, due to the fact that he hadn't change directions yet. Hiccup was holding on to dear life, until he noticed the tail fin he made had folded back, due to the rushing wing. His eyes turned black as he reached out, using his powers to pull it open.

The dragon then pulled out as he attempted to fly out of the canyon, unfortunately, Toothless was on the verge of taking a rather nasty nose dive, knowing it was gonna crash again. But the moment that Hiccup opened the artificial fin… he pulled up from the nosedive and into the air, without even crashing into a tree or the ground at all. The dragon roared out in joy; it could fly again now.

The two were soaring in through the skies, flying overhead off in another direction, with Hiccup still hanging onto the tail. If Hiccup had a better place to sit down, he'd be amazed by the view when he looked down. In all his life, he had seen Berk on top of a cliff with his father once, but he never saw it like this before. It was, for a lack of a better word for the now smiling, slack-jawed Viking: "Amazing."

Toothless flew down, to where a waterfall was, feeding into a river stream. He and Hiccup glided over the calm water, not even touching or disturbing the water at all.

Hiccup smirked at all this, knowing that the fin worked as he threw his arms out in joy and yelled, "Yeah, it's working! I did it, I did it!"

Toothless felt the movement from behind him, and looked under to see Hiccup. The dragon furrowed his frown, and decided to get rid of the boy. He had made a sharp turn away from the waterfall; this caused Hiccup to get thrown off as he skidded on the water's surface, until finally crashing into it, nearly fifteen feet away from the massive waterfall, However, as Toothless was about to fly away, the tail fin snapped closed again. The dragon tried to keep its balance, but to no avail as it crashed into the water.

Toothless resurfaced from the water, realizing it was only knee deep, even for Hiccup as he stood up, and spat out the water, "Yeah! Alright!"

**The Next week**

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

Hiccup popped his wrist and back as he entered the coliseum. The others were already there and next to them were six pails of water.

_"Oh, boy!"_ Hiccup thought as Gobber walked into the arena.

**Five minutes later**

"Today, you're dealin' with the Hideous Zippleback. It's known for its two heads, one that blows out a highly explosive gas and the other that coughs sparks that ignite the gas and blows everything around it to kingdom come. The only way to disarm it is to douse the sparking head with water. No sparks, No ka-boom." Gobber explained, as his trainees stood in the middle of the coliseum, each with a pail of water in hand. Gobber pulled a switch and a gate opened, and almost immediately, the coliseum was filled with a green mist.

_"This looks promising."_ Hiccup thought sarcastically. They were all separated with Snotlout and Tuffnut, Astrid and Ruffnut, and he was with Fishlegs.

Elsewhere in the mist, Snotlout and Tuffnut were keeping an eye out for the dragon as well. Their buckets were at the ready, as they stood back to back, cautiously keeping an eye out for the Zippleback. However, as usual, Snotlout was boasting out.

"If that dragon shows either of its faces, I'm gonna…" but stopped himself as he took notice of a shadow from the smoke, illuminated by the light. Both boys stopped as they saw the figure's silhouette in the smoke. They couldn't make it out, but saw horns, and assumed it to be a dragon. "There!"

The two threw their buckets out, shooting the water right at the shadows. "Hey!" a familiar female voice spoke out as the smoke cleared from that point. It was Ruffnut, who was a little soaked, and Astrid, who was dry as a bone. Tuffnut's sister huffed, "It's us, you idiots."

The two boys looked to each other, trying to come up with an excuse. But Tuffnut made the first dumb one as he chuckled, "Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were the dragon."

But Snotlout shrugged, trying to make it into a compliment for Astrid, "Not that there's… anything wrong with having a dragon-esque figure, though."

However, at the end of that sentence, both Snotlout and Tuffnut were about to get it from their little excuses. Astrid walked up to Snotlout… and delivered a hard right uppercut to the jaw to the teen Viking, sending him to the ground. Ruffnut threw her bucket right at her brother, knocking him back on his butt. As Tuffnut was getting back up, something snagged him on the pants, and pulled him screaming into the fog. The only thing that came out of the fog, was his helmet, as the screaming and yelling continued.

Ruffnut was about to run in to get her brother, but Astrid grabbed her, "Don't, wait!"

Then suddenly, the two girls were pushed back on their butts, as Tuffnut was thrown at them from the fog. The boy was unharmed, but he was pretty freaked out as he ran out of there, passing Fishlegs and Hiccup, yelling, "AAAAAH! I'm hurt! I'm very much hurt! AAAAAH!"

Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle at the sight.

Fishlegs shrunk behind his bucket as he nervously squeaked from his throat, "Chances of survival are dwindling into single-digits now…"

Then, snaking its way out of the dissipating smoke, the dragon's heads were showing themselves, including the rest of the dragons. The dragon was light green in its scale color, with a light green underbelly, going from tail to jaw. The dragon's limbs were small, but strong enough to go fast, and support the triangle-shaped frame, with the front of the triangle body, and the top as the end. On the end, was a tail that split in two at the middle, and traveling down the tails and up to the heads were red like spines that seem to look like zipper teeth. Its wings were folded onto its sides, with only one wing bone, leaving a bat wing shape design on the single membrane wing. Its heads were bulbous, attached to thin but strong long necks to its body. Two large sharp teeth stuck out from the sides of the mouth as small sharp teeth stuck out from the bottom. They had yellow cat eyes with black slits, a yellow horn on top of their nose that pointed back, and two straight black horns shooting out of the back. This, was the Hideous Zippleback, the only dragon that had two heads and that created explosions. A very tricky dragon, considering that no one knew which head did which, until it was too late.

The two heads slithered side by side, like snakes as it sized up on the three Vikings who it spotted out. The first target they spotted was the large and shook up Viking boy, as one head slunked slow then fast. Fishlegs easily jumped back, as the head that lingered at him began to pull back in a cobra-like fashion. Seeing this as his chance, Fishlegs threw the water at the dragon's head, easily soaking it. Fishlegs smirked at the task finished, but nervously frowned, as he saw the head didn't create a spark, but spewed out the green combustible gas.

He chuckled nervously as he silently pointed out, "Oh, heh… wrong head." And then ran off, screaming at the top of his lungs, leaving his teammate behind.

Hiccup sighed in exasperation, _"Some help he is."_ He waved a greeting to the creature before executing a backflip to avoid it's lunging head, accidentally dropping his pail of water in the process. He ducked backwards to avoid its other head.

_"Time to test my theory!"_ His eyes turned black and a breeze blew against him, towards the Zippleback. It sniffed the air and the pupils on both heads dilated as it began backing away to its cage, whimpering and hissing in fear. The others simply stopped what they were doing as the gas cleared, showing that the Zippleback was cowering away from the skinny viking-wannabe.

Hiccup continued to approach the two-headed dragon and it continued to back away as though Hiccup was the devil himself, though he looked like it with his black eyes boring into its own. It made its way into its cage and Hiccup stood at the entrance with his image being obscured by shadows. _"I can't believe that worked."_ He thought incredulously. He moved his vest to reveal the eel that he almost fed to Toothless the day before. He threw it into the cage, making the Zippleback nearly go frantic and he slammed the door before the others could see it. He turned around to see the others gawking at him. He chuckled nervously, pointed to himself, then to his left before vanishing like he was made of smoke.

"A darkling?" Astrid asked.

"Nah, he used a teleportation spell and warped himself out of here. He's outside, somewhere." Gobber said and walked out, himself.

**Gobber's Blacksmith shop**

Hiccup sighed as he wisped into being. "Damn, I'll never get used to that." He shuddered as he grabbed some parchment and began drawing a new blueprint for an idea that had popped into his head. Once finished, he inspected it and nodded in approval before his eyes turned black and several pieces of leather, wood, thin rope, and metal began hovering in the air.

**Next morning**

**Toothless' hiding place**

Toothless' ear twitched as he felt a presence approach his den, along with the familiar aroma of fish. His mouth began watering when the little human approached with another basket full of fish, along with a long black stick vertically strapped to his back. He suddenly stopped as Hiccup's eyes turned black and the basket of scrumptious fish moved behind him. He pulled out what looked at a saddle and looked at Toothless expectantly.

Toothless grumbled, the message was either put the contraption on, or no fish. He grumbled before nodding.

Hiccup smiled and the saddle hovered over to Toothless and strapped itself to his back, the basket of fish moved in front of him and poured out his friend's lunch.

Toothless, then surprised him by moving to a tree and dragging his claws downward like a cat uses a scratching post. He did this fo a few minutes before going back to eating his fish. It gave him a new idea but he'd work on that later.

Hiccup moved to a more spacious part of the den and unstrapped his mother's staff. He sat down, cross-legged with the staff laid out on his lap. He closed his eyes, with his hands on his knees and began meditating. It was a moment later when he began hovering two feet off of the ground, meditating on his new plan. Toothless finished off his fish and laid down to stare at the mysterious human that he had befriended.

**One hour later**

Hiccup came out of his meditative trance due to the sound of excited grunting. He turned around to see a large batch of moving long grass.

"The hell?" He asked as he approached the moving grass.

He peered inside to see Toothless rolling around with a satisfied, drunken expression on his face as he rolled around and inhaled the aroma of grass. Hiccup picked up a few strands of them and examined them with a critical eye, he sniffed it and his face scrunched up. He pulled out his book and placed some of the grass on the page to mark it.

_"He likes grass that smells like garlic. The other dragons must like them too."_ He wrote and snickered at Toothless' obliviousness to the world around him, he enjoyed the grass that much.

**The next morning**

**Gobber's Blacksmith shop**

Hiccup tossed a metal bowl of his meteor material on the forge. The black metal melted into its softer form after awhile.

"Too long. I hate how this metal takes forever-and-a-day to heat." Hiccup irritatingly grumbled. He had thought of a new kind of weapon that would be excellent for a fighter that didn't rely too much on his fists, such as himself.

He removed his arm bracer and laid it down to where the plate that covered the back of his hand laid over the fire. The small hammer mainly used for repairing knives hovered off the wall and in front of the smirking Hiccup.

He began hammering and worked through the night.

**Some time later**

**Village streets**

Hiccup walked through the streets with a heavy mind, his staff thunking lightly against the ground as he walked. His left arm was covered by a traveling cloak that he had donned to hide his new creation.

"Hey, Hiccup!" A voice yelled. He turned to see Fishlegs, Tuffnut, and Ruffnut approaching him. He narrowed his eyes and held his staff, vertically at his waist.

"Relax, Big guy! We're here to talk, not fight." Tuffnut said. Hiccup remained in his stance but his eyes softened.

"Look, uh... W-we all wanted to apologize for the way we've been treating you. Can you forgive us?" Ruffnut started.

Hiccup raised a brow in confusion. They picked up on it and Tuffnut clarified.

"We've put some thought into the way we behaved and we want to apologize. Whether or not you accept it is your choice." He said before stifling himself and they all looked at him expectantly.

Hiccup felt actual sincerity in their words. They were finally accepting him. He slowly smiled and nodded to their apology. They all smiled and walked with him to the coliseum for the day's training.

"What's with the cloak? You going somewhere?" Tuffnut asked.

Hiccup looked at him as if he were saying "It's a surprise."

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

_"I should have known that this was gonna suck!"_ Hiccup thought as he used his staff to bat away the fireball that was shot at him by the Gronkle.

He decided to throw his staff onto the stands, where Gobber caught it with a bored look on his face. He then unsheathed Nero and faced the Gronkle, head-on.

Tuffnut intervened by throwing his hammer at the dragon and acquiring it's attention. It spun itself around and sideswiped Hiccup with its tail.

"Sorry about that, man!" Tuff shouted to Hiccup's airbourne figure.

Hiccup slammed through a wooden wall and landed on his back with stars dancing in his vision. He shook his head to clear his vision and see that the others were having a little bit of difficulty with the large-mouthed beast.

The Gronkle outmaneuvered Astrid's axe and batted her away with its front paw. Snotlout and Fishlegs fell just as easily. Ruffnut and Tuffnut began bashing their shields with their axe and hammer, respectively. It worked for an instant, as the Gronkle began moving as though it were intoxicated. It, somehow, managed to smack away Tuffnut and knock Ruffnut to the ground. She watched in slow-motion as the Gronkle opened its mouth and the light of its fireball glowed from the back of its throat.

It was about to fire, but Hiccup appeared above it, his black eyes blazing. He threw off the cloak to reveal his arm bracer with a black, armored hand with clawed fingertips attached. He hooked his new claws on the Gronkles upper teeth, using his powers to augment his strength, and threw his weight back, pulling the dragon's head upwards where it launched its fireball to the sky. It began to struggle to get Hiccup off of its back.

He used his power to move the blades of nip-grass that he acquired from Toothless' den and they rubbed themselves against the Gronkles nose.

It suddenly stopped struggling and adopted a relaxed, dumb look on its face.

Hiccp raised a brow at this and recalled his staff back into his hand. He grabbed one end and stood in front of the Gronkle. He pointed the other end of the staff at the Gronkle's cage and held it straight up, his black eyes full of mirth. _"NEW BATTER!"_ He mentally cheered before batting the Gronkle's face and sending it into its cage. The door sealed itself up.

_"HOMERUN!"_ He threw his arms up, as if in celebration. He motioned to himself and held up a single armored, clawed finger before dropping his staff and using his other hand to point at the Gronkle's cage and hold up a closed fist. _"Hiccup wins! One-Nothiiiiiiiiing!"_ He began doing a little victory dance until he felt everyone's eyes on him. He slowly turned around to chuckle at their gawky expressions. He stood up straight and rubbed the back of his head with his clawed hand which he almost immediately flinched, due to the scratches that he inflicted on his own scalp.

"Ruff, you okay?" Fishlegs asked when he noticed that she had yet to move after her near-brush with death. She sat there, shaking, with a look of pure terror on her face.

Hiccup's eyes softened as he slowly approached the female viking. He crouched to her level and wrapped his arms around her, leaning her head on his chest. She slowly wrapped her arms around him and her shoulders shook, lightly. Her shaking stopped after a little while and he rubbed her back, soothingly. She let him go and nodded her thanks with teary eyes. He wiped them away and nodded to Tuffnut, who moved to his sister's side as Hiccup stood to leave.

"Good job out there, Hiccup. Run along, now." Gobber said as he went past them to clean up the mess. Hiccup sighed as he locked his normal green eyes with Ruffnut's when Fishlegs guided her out of the arena.

"Hey!" Tuffnut said. Hiccup turned around to see him looking at the ground. "Thank you for saving her. She may be a pain in the ass but she's still my sister. I owe you my life, man!" He held out his hand for Hiccup to shake. Hiccup nodded and firmly shook it, his eyes saying, "Anytime".

He released his new friend's hand and left after recalling his staff and Ebony flew back in its sheath.

**That afternoon**

**Toothless' den**

Hiccup laid in the grass, lost in thought. His equipment laid out beside him as his mind kept wandering to his new friends and the fact that he had forgiven them for all the hell that he was put through at their hands. "Maybe i'm just soft...the hell am I kiddin'? I like to babysit a toddler for free, what's softer than that?" He ranted. He was pulled out of his reverie when he felt Toothless nudge his face with his nose and frantically motion to his neck with his elbow, apparently he was itching and couldn't scratch it. Hiccup raised a brow, but stood anyway and began grinding his small fingernails along his friend's neck. Toothless' adopted a more priceless look than he had when he rolled around in the long grass. He began pressing onto Hiccup's hands and he responded by scratching harder.

_"He enjoys being scratched, mostly on the neck." _His pencil wrote in his book. He reached under Toothless' neck and scratched his chin. Toothless' eyes widened before he flopped on the ground, seemingly dead. Hiccup immediately pulled himself away and felt for a pulse and breathing.

He realized that he had passed out and grabbed his floating book and pencil. _"Passes out when scratched on a certain pressure point under the chin."_ He wrote. He put his book away and sat down. The shock of what happened caught up to him and he began cracking up, his laughter echoed through the woods, not a soul had heard him.

**That night**

**Berk council hall**

"You wanna tell me what happened back there?" Astrid asked Ruffnut. The others had gone home for the night, except for Hiccup, but he hasn't been seen since he left after the training for the day had ended.

"What's it to you?" She said back.

"Do you have any idea how weak you looked, being held by that weakling?" Astrid asked.

"What do you mean 'Weakling"? I happen to recall him cleaving your axe in half not too long ago." She shot back. Astrid growled at the memory and was about to retaliate, but the doors were kicked open. They turned around to see Hiccup raking his fingers through his hair to dry it off.

Hiccup lifted his head and noticed the two girls looking at him. Ruffnut, casually. Astrid, glaring. He smiled nervously and grabbed a chicken leg before rushing out of the hall.

"See? He's so hopeless he can't look at a girl for three seconds! How can _he_ kill a dragon?" Astrid asked.

Ruffnut sighed and laid her head down on her arm. _"You better appreciate me sticking up for you, Hiccup."_ She thought.

**Some time later**

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

Gobber was chatting with one of the many adults that showed up to see how the new recruits were coming along.

The teens were having a rematch with the Deadly Nadder and it was currently trying to choose between Hiccup, whom had infuriated it, and Astrid, whom had slapped it away with her axe. It was currently chasing Hiccup around as he jumped, flipped, and sidestepped its advances.

Hiccup was about to try out his new test, but was interrupted by Astrid grabbing his shirt.

"Move aside, and stay out of my way!" She ordered. Hiccup looked at her confusingly until she jumped away as the Nadder slammed its blind spot onto Hiccup's torso. He went flying over the wooden wall and it followed him. He shook his head to clear his vision of the pretty stars right as the Nadder was about to stomp on his face. He rolled to the left and stared it down with his black eyes. He heard a warcry on the other side of the wall and turned to see Astrid running over with her axe held high. He mentally cursed and furiously began scratching the dragon's neck. He found its pressure point and it fainted right as Astrid was above them. Her axe was already descending, so he drew his sword and parried her assault.

He shoved her away and leaped onto the wall. He summoned his staff into his hand and faced the downed Nadder. He held one end and the other end was above it. He placed the other end of the staff at the Nadder's rear and shook his ass slightly.

_"It's the eighteenth hole and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III prepares to drive."_ He thought and brought the staff up, behind his head. He held up four fingers above his head. _"FOOOOOORE!"_ He mentally yelled as he retook his grip and swiftly brought down the weapon and smacked the Nadder's ass with it, sending it flying into its cage, where it sealed itself shut.

_"HOLE IN OOOOOOONE! Hiccup wins again! Two-Nothiiiiiiing!"_ He cheered and began doing his weird dance again.

"Hiccup, we all know you can't dance, so why are ye trying to?" Gobber rhetorically asked. Hiccup stopped dancing and turned to give Gobber a semi-mean glare. He "humphed" and disappeared in a wisp of smoke.

**One Hour later**

**Toothless' den**

Toothless was jumping and pouncing at a small reflected light on the ground. With the mannerisms of a cat chasing a mouse, he playfully tried to catch it. Though the light escaped his grasp, as he was too focused, nothing else seemed to matter as he followed the light. Hidden behind a rock, Hiccup giggled as he moved a hammer that was reflecting light from the setting sun. His book hovered out of his vest and the pencil began writing._"Expresses absolute, keen interest in small lights reflected on surfaces, similar to a cat. __Freakin' hilarious! To be done as often as possible!__"_ He wrote and began leading Toothless to the lake edge, snickering the whole time. He reflected the light into the water and Toothless dove his head in for it. The action caused him to drop the hammer and crack up.

**Next day**

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

That new info became useful today, as the next Dragon was the one that was kept behind by the most bolted up door. Gobber pulled the lever as he announced, "Alright… meet the Terrible Terror."

The doors suddenly rumbled, but to the teens' amazement and confusion, a small doggy door swung open. And now, standing only ten feet from them, and standing about 1/8th their size, the smallest dragon was present before them. It was small, with the body the size of a Chihuahua, small but powerful red wings, red spines going down from head to tail, and a small red horn on its nose, as well as two on its head. The dragon's body was colored light green with red trim on some areas, and had big, yellow eyes. It licked its right eye, almost similar as to how a gecko would do, as it looked at the teens. This was the Terrible Terror, the smallest of the dragons, but not the least in ferocity.

This was made evident as the teens looked at it, almost scoffing the notion of even fighting it. Tuffnut scoffed at the creature, "Ha! It's like the size of my…"

But that was cut off short, as the Terror pounced at him, knocking him on the ground and causing the others to scatter. Fur and hair flew over the place, as the Terror was attacking the stunned male twin. The dragon then latched on to his nose, trying to yank it off, seemingly looking like it did, and gnawing at it. Then suddenly, a light shone off it, catching the dragon's attention, as it pulled off Tuffnut and chased after the light. While Tuffnut was howling in pain, the Terrible Terror chased after the light…

… the light that Hiccup was making with a hovering mirror shard. He led the dragon to the middle of the arena and he went a few feet behind it. His book flew out of his vest and his pencil wrote something before the paper ripped itself out and fluttered into Ruffnut's hand.

She read to herself:

_"It's distracted. Go kneel beside it and hold your finger above it._

_P.S. Prepare to laugh, this is gonna be awesome."_ She looked skeptical, but complied at his encouraging nod.

Hiccup locked his eyes with hers and barely held back his laughter. He raised his arm for a second, _"Here's the kick!"_ He mentally announced before sprinting forward and punting the dragon right through its doggy door. _"And it's GOOD! Hiccup wins: three-Nothiiiiiiing!"_ Ruffnut laughed and whooped as Hiccup suddenly wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted her up to spin them around. The adults that were watching the match all broke into cheers and applause.

Once again, the worst Viking in Berk had done it again, and Astrid's jealousy was growing more from it, as was her suspicion of him. However, her jealousy became evident at this moment, with Tuffnut making the mistake in mentioning to her, while rubbing his nose, "Wow. He's a whole lot better than you ever were, Astrid."

"Hey, Tuffnut," Astrid began, almost unfazed by what he had said, and turned to face him, asking, "How's your nose?"

Cocking an eyebrow, Tuffnut shrugged, "Nah, it's doing a little…" but was cut off, by a punch to the nose, delivered by Astrid herself. He fell to the ground in a heap, as he groaned, "…. worse. It's doin' a little worse."

Hiccup put Ruffnut down to go inspect her twin's nose. He made Tuffnut look at him before his eyes turned black and his hand was held over Tuffnut's face. His palm and the front of his fingers glowed white and there were several pops and grunts of pain as Tuffnut's nose was popped back into place. The entire process took about three minutes and it couldn't have lasted any longer to Tuff.

"Oh! Dude, you are awesome." Tuff said as he wiggled his nose to check if it was really healed.

Hiccup gave him a grin before disappearing in a wisp of smoke.

"That's like medical upgrade +18!" Fishlegs blurted.

The twins just looked at him weirdly before laughing hysterically.

**Later that Day**

**Deep in the Forest**

Astrid was hard at work, training as she usually did, alone with no one holding her back. She was practicing her axe throws on a nearby tree; the tree showing much strain in the one part she kept striking and hitting at with every throw, strike, and slash she made on it. It was clearly and plainly obvious that she was working all her frustrations and anger of Hiccup on the tree… rather on him.

When she swung the axe back at the tree once again, she ran towards it and grabbed it by the handle. Pulling it out, she reversed somersaulted and flipped back in an impressive and acrobatic feat. When she landed back on her feet, she readied to throw the axe at the trees from where she stood. But when she looked behind her, ready to throw the axe again, she stopped and was slightly surprised at what… or who she saw.

There, frozen in his spot, carrying what appeared to be some kind of sack with some strange devices, was Hiccup. He seemed silently surprised to see Astrid, of all people, out here. But knew he had to get out of there before she became wise to his game. And so, he bolted out of there, with Astrid watching him go, until finally she chased after him silently. He immediately bolted behind a rock, as Astrid caught up to confront him.

But when she got there, he was gone, far from sight as she saw he was nowhere to be seen. She huffed in frustration as she smacked her fist on the rock, and went back to her training.

**A cliff on the far end of the island**

Hiccup observed as Toothless flew off the ground, only six feet. His saddle was attached to a strong rope, which was tied to a stake in the ground.

The artificial fin shifted and Toothless landed. He gave his human a large gummy grin and he smiled back with his gentle black eyes.

"Next time I can try riding on your back." He mumbled as he untied the saddle and pat Toothless on the neck.

He seemed to have heard him because he motioned to the saddle.

"I can't try it today, Pal. I have to wake up early in the morning for training. See ya later!" He waved goodbye before vanishing in a wisp of smoke.

**That night**

Hiccup hummed a jovial tune as he tossed Ebony up in the air and caught its hilt.

"Hey, Hiccup." An angry voice shouted. He sighed and turned to shush Astrid.

"Fight me! Right here, right now." She demanded, her axe gleaming in the moonlight.

He, once again, made a shushing gessture with his finger and waved goodbye before vanishing with a smile.

She growled and made a slash to cleave him in two. It did nothing but make a clear space in the smoke. "I know you're hiding something and I swear i'm gonna find out what it is." She screamed.

Hiccup watched her walk away with worry in his eyes. "She's beginning to suspect, better be more careful." He whispered before teleporting to his house to sleep.

**Next morning**

The Vikings that remained behind were now at the docks, along with Gobber as they welcomed the now returning search party. Or what was left of them. In truth, they all had returned, but they didn't come back in one piece. The ships were either burnt in some places, or chunks of them had been bitten or torn out. It looked like their search for the nest had nearly been a costly one for them all, considering the dragons they had come across gave them a fracas they wouldn't soon forget. But despite the happy thought that they had all come back, the Vikings that returned, including Stoick, all had sour and disappointed expressions on their faces. But none of them seemed more disappointed and foul-tempered at this moment, than Stoick himself.

As his friend, with his interchangeable hand now a paddle, was there to greet him, the others were getting out and helped out by the other Vikings.

Gobber grabbed his pack as he asked his friend, "So… I take it you found the nest?"

"Not even close," Stoick grumbled. The duo then walked side by side each other as they made their way across the pier. As they did, Stoick asked him, "I'm hopin' you had more luck than I did with Hiccup back here."

"Well, I can safely say that your parenting troubles are over," Gobber announced to the Viking chief.

This earned a confused look on the chief's face, but before he could ask what he meant by that, a few of the villagers rushed on over, passing them. And each of them congratulated on Stoick as they past them by,

"Stoick! Everyone in the village is so relieved now!"

"Out with the old, in with the new, eh?"

"No one's gonna miss that big nuisance, not one bit."

"Right before the Nightmare Battle, we're all gonna celebrate with a big party."

As the villagers left the trio from all that commotion, Stoick's face was one of worry. Apparently, he had misinterpreted their statements, saying that Hiccup was no more amongst them… alive, that is. Worried, he looked to his friend and asked, "He's gone?"

"Well, yes, teleports somewhere most afternoons, but who can blame him?" Gobber shrugged, swaying Stoick's worries aside as he explained, "I mean, the life of a celebrity is pretty straining on the poor lad. What with being swarmed all over by his new fans and all. Who wouldn't want to disappear for the whole day?"

"That, and I believe he's trying to avoid Miss Hofferson," He pointed out, scratching and stroking his beard. "Ever since he became the newest prodigy in Dragon Training, she's been growing more and more jealous of his accomplishments, he practically overshadows her in skill and physical improvements."

It was after hearing all that, that Stoick stopped him, and asked, "Are we talking about the same Hiccup here?"

Gobber nodded a yes to that as he smirked, "Yeah, I know. Who'd ever thought, eh? I mean, he's not as buff as me or you, but he's actually grown muscles on his toothpick body. And who'd ever thought of his success in the ring? With all the new moves and weapons he's been making himself, he's on a whole new field. And then there's the way that he fights the dragons. It's like he has some way with the beasts."

Stoick looked the other way, completely astounded of the news about his son.

"The good news gets even better, he used a healing power to fix Tuffnut's nose, yesterday."

Stoick stopped dead in his tracks. "That means..."

"Aye, he's about to ascend."

**Elsewhere**

Far away from the village of Berk, or rather, high up in the sky, nearly hidden in the clouds, something else was going on. Soaring above the clouds, and the forests of Berk, Toothless was steadily flying in the air, with Hiccup standing on the saddle on his back like it was a surfboard, steering him. After nearly three months of training and practice flight, the two were now ready to do the real thing this time.

Hiccup's black eyes were unflinching as the cold air stung his skin. He flexed his pinky and the left pedal turned backwards, causing the tail fin to open wider now. Toothless spotted that, and looked back forward, knowing full well now where to go. The two were facing the ocean, with Hiccup looking behind him and saw that the artificial tail fin was working perfectly with Toothless's real fin. They then dived down gently to the ocean, and then soared over it to two rock formations.

"Alright, here we go," Hiccup told himself as he and Toothless dived down.

The two soared over the ocean's surface into and under a rocky arch that connected to the island's rocks. Toothless, soaring over the water, as his wing gently touched the water in Hiccup's effort to balance him, looked at the rocky passageway, hoping not to crash into it. But luck was on his side, as Hiccup steered him perfectly through on the other side.

Hiccup had to smile at this achievement, "Yes. It worked." Now with this feeling of accomplishment, Hiccup felt it was gonna be a breeze. However, he overstepped his confidence, as he and Toothless slammed into a rock pillar, "Sorry about that!" and then another rock pillar. "My bad!" Toothless had enough of it, as he used his right ear to slap Hiccup hard on the right, snapping him out of it, "Ow! Yeah, yeah, I'm on it! Okay, Position four… no, three," Hiccup stated as he twitched his pinky and changed gears. After the gears were changed, Hiccup and Toothless began flying into a vertical ascent. Rapidly gaining altitude, the adrenaline started to build up into him, climbing along with the altitude counter. Overwhelmed by excitement, he exclaimed, "Yeah! Come on, baby! Let's go! Ha ha…" Hiccup couldn't help but be happy about this as he shouted, "Ah, man! This is awesome! The wind in my face…!"

And in an act of agreement, Toothless released a firebolt that bursts into a brilliant flame in front of him and Hiccup.

Hiccup saw this and his shoulders slumped as he groaned, "Aw, come on…"

And the last thing that happened, was the Night Fury swept on in through the flame burst, carrying his rider right on in.

**Later On**

**Other Side of Berk Shores**

The two had landed on the rocky shoreline, far from Berk where they sat around a makeshift fire, eating fish. Hiccup was not in the best of conditions, as he did survive the fly through the burst, but didn't come out as clean as a whistle. He was covered in soot, and his hair was singed at the ends, pulled back as it gave him a new look. As Hiccup blinked a bit, getting the flexibility back in his face, or at least watering his eyes once more, Toothless began to make another hacking sound. The young Viking could only remember that sound as he turned to his left, where he leaned back on Toothless, as he looked and saw Toothless hacking out a half-eaten fish.

"Ah, no thanks," He said holding up the fish he had on the stick, "I'm good."

But then suddenly, a loud hissing and chirping sound caught all their attention. A small pack of Terrors flew in and landed nearby to them, drawn by the scent of raw food being cooked. Hiccup didn't seem to mind the smaller band of dragons coming in, but Toothless let out a low growl as he pulled his food closer to himself, as if warning the much smaller dragons to stay away from his meal.

In amusement, the magic-user observed the little lizards try to steal a piece or two away, first by engaging in a little tug-of-war with Toothless; the winner was obvious from the beginning. And then one of the regular green and red Terrors, tried to sneak a piece away while he was distracted. Toothless caught the Terror in its tracks, and promptly snatched back the piece of meat. Angered at its failed plot, the smaller dragon tried aggression, drawing its breath and getting ready to shoot its flame at Toothless.

But before it can do anything, though, Toothless spat a small bright blue firebolt right into its open mouth. Surprised, the Terror's eyes snapped wide open, as it fell back from the impact. Smoking from its ears and mouth, it dizzily tottered about.

Hiccup chuckled as he looked at the dizzy Terror, "Heh. Not so fireproof on the inside, are ya?"

Partly out of pity, and partly because he didn't want Toothless to burn the poor thing to a crisp, Hiccup took one of the non-cooked fish and tossed it over to the Terror.

"Here you go." He said. The green Small One snatched up the fish and swallowed it whole. The green Small One tilted its head to the side as Hiccup settled back against Toothless' side and scuttled over to him curiously.

It curiously examined the sorcerous Viking and then the fish, then bit it with its teeth, and swallows the content whole. Full, it looked at him with its large round eyes, and scurried over to him. And then, much to his surprise, it scuttled into his lap, curled up into a ball, and cuddled up against his stomach.

"Damn!" Hiccup sighed as he smiled at the purring little winged lizard on his lap. "Everything we know about you guys. Everything they told us, read to us, or even pound into our heads since birth about the dragons... is wrong."

I hope you all enjoyed that LOOOOONG ASS chapter.

Please read and review


	4. Chapter 4

I'm sorry to announce that this is the final chapter for Black Covenant. I will, however, make a sequel.

Please give lots of praise to Stone-man85 as well as Chaoticwritercrazy for their assistance in the production of my story.

Enjoy and R&R!

Hicup sighed as he made his way into his room. Toothless had made sure to clean all of the soot off him... by licking him like he was a mother cat cleaning her kittens.

_"Not too far from the truth"_ He snickered as he entered his room and neared his workdesk.

Only to come face-to-face with his father.

"Hello, Hiccup. Let's talk." He sternly ordered.

_"Ah hell."_ He mentally groaned.

**Next morning**

It was the final match between Hiccup and Astrid against a fully grown Gronkle. The match was being observed by the entire island. The Elder was also present next to Stoick, it was she that would decide who would kill their first dragon in front of the entire village.

_"This is getting to be ri-goddamn-diculous!"_ Hiccup mentally ranted as fixed his breast-hat and dodged another swipe of the fat dragon's tail.

He made a darkling to disable it and slipped behind a makeshift wall. He was soon joined by Astrid. She immediately grasped his shirt to bring his face close to hers.

"Stay out of my way! I'm winning this." She declared before jumping over the wall.

_"Give me a break. I don't even like this dumb lizard and I gotta save it's fat ass from a hot psycho broad."_ He grumbled as he teleported above the Gronkle and landed on its back. He grabbed the dragon by its upper jaws and augmented his strength to flip it onto its face, like he used in his earlier match with the Gronkle. He kicked off of it and drew Ebony while flexing his claws, he stopped and adopted a thoughtful expression before smirking evilly and his staff appeared in his hand.

Astrid dodged a fireball that the Gronkle shot at her and leapt behind another wall.

_"I can do this. I'm better, stronger, and faster than him. THIS TIME, FOR SURE!"_ She told herself. She leapt above the wall with a battle cry...

... only to stop dead in her tracks at the sight before her.

The Gronkle laid down on its stomach with a retarded facial expression and large lump on its head. Hiccup stood beside it with his mother's staff propped on his shoulder. He suddenly grabbed the end of the staff and the middle of it. He placed the opposite end on the ground next to the Gronkle.

_"He winds up..."_ He pulled the staff back.

_"He shoots..."_ The staff smacked the Gronkle's side and sent it into its cage, which sealed itself.

_"HE SCOOOOORES! Hiccup wins, four-nothiiiiiing!"_ The staff vanished in a burst of smoke and he started doing some kind of funky dance moves. The audience began cheering at his victory.

"NO! NO!NO!NO!NO!NO! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN! YOU SON OF A HALF-TROLL!" Astrid was practically frothing at the mouth, her rage was so vivid.

"QUIET! THE ELDER WILL NOW DECIDE!" Stoick shouted above the roaring crowd.

Gobber moved to stand behind the two teens. He placed his hook-hand above Astrid's head and awaited her reaction. The elder shook her head. He then placed his hook over Hiccup's head.

Hiccup began pointing to Astrid while trying to make it look like he was rubbing his nose. He then began motioning with his head.

The elder nodded her head, despite Hiccup's attempts to turn her attention away.

"WE HAVE A CHAMPION. HE'LL BE THE ONE THAT WILL KILL THE MONSTROUS NIGHTMARE TOMORROW!" Stoick shouted above the roaring crowd.

Hiccup's eyes were like dinnerplates. He looked at Astrid to see her glaring at him with murder in her eyes.

_"I am so..."_

**Toothless' den**

**One hour later**

"... Fucked!" He muttered before entering the den.

"We're leaving, Toothless! We're going on a vacation, bud... forever." Hiccup shouted out.

He threw the basket containing Toothless' fish in front of him before he began rifling through it.

He suddenly sighed aggravatingly. "Obsidian's at Gobber's shop. Dammit!" He cussed and stood, only to scream and fall backwards at the sight before him.

Astrid sat on the rock beside where he once crouched with her trusted axe in hand. "Congratulations, you got your voice back. Now it should be easier for you to give me some answers." She would rather die than admit it aloud, but his voice sounded rather attractive.

Hiccup frowned defiantly, "I don't recall you ever giving a shit before, nor do I recall it ever being any of your business." He grabbed Ebony's hilt and pulled the blade out of its sheath.

Astrid took the bait and made to swipe at his side. He blocked with his claw bracer and their eyes locked.

_"Can't risk her seeing Toothless, better take this elsewhere."_ He was about to teleport but she realized that he was occupied with his thoughts.

She jabbed him twice in the nose before he knew what hit him and spun around to cleave his head off but he blocked with Ebony and tried to counter with a swipe of his claws, which she barely dodged. He grabbed her by the bicep and planted Ebony at her throat. She scoffed and brought her knee up...

... right into the painful place.

"Ohhhh! Why would you do that." He groaned as he cupped his crotch on the ground, Ebony stabbed into the ground from him dropping it.

"That's for the attitude! And _that's.._," She slammed the butt of her axe against his stomach, feeling a small sense of pleasure as the painful gasp he emitted, "..for everything else."

A growl came from behind her, and Hiccup heard it. "Oh no.." He grumbled.

She turned around to see Toothless pouncing toward her with his teeth bared.

Astrid gasped and made to cleave off his wing as he approached.

Hiccup teleported between them and, with a single clawed finger, he blocked Astrid's axe and the other hand held Toothless back.

"No! No, it's alright! It's ok! She's a friend. Ohhh!" Hiccup shouted loudly, but gently, at the Night Fury, His knees shook slightly, appearing to still be in pain from her earlier blow. The dragon immediately stilled upon hearing his words. It dropped back down onto all fours as it nuzzled its nose under Hiccup's elbow, making a sound between a growl and a croon at the same time.

Hiccup then turned towards her, the relief evident on his face as he spoke in a calm voice, "You just scared him."

"_I _scared _him_?" She froze for as second as said dragon snorted. "Who is 'him'?"

"Uh Astrid, meet Toothless. Toothless...Astrid." He introduced.

Astrid looked at him smugly before she took off into the woods, towards Berk.

"Dat dadadaaaa we're dead." Hiccup sarcastically sang. Toothless snorted as if saying 'we?' before walking away.

"Hey! where you goin'?"

Astrid leapt over a fallen log and dove under another. _"He chose the side of the dragons, he's a traitor."_ She, almost excitingly, thought. He had been cheating in the ring. The things he did were learned from his 'pet'.

She suddenly froze midstep and felt lightheaded for a second. The next thing she knew, she was hovering above a very tall tree. She fell onto the tallest branch and held on with a scream as she dropped her beloved axe and watched as it fell.

"Teleporting feels weird doesn't it? I'm still not used to it, to tell you the truth." Hiccup stated from beside her. He was crouching on the saddle on Toothless' back. He smiled with his black eyes gleaming in the sunset.

Toothless stared at her while snickering at her predicament. He was perched on the tip of the tree.

"Hiccup! Let me down, you bastard." She screamed.

"Now that's rude. But I can't let you down until you give me a chance to explain. Plus, you hit me square in the balls, I am fully within my rights to drop your ass." He said pointing to the ground

"I don't have to hear anything you say." She shot back.

"Once again, that's rude. You're the first human i've spoken to in over a decade and you won't hear what I have to say. Alright fine, then don't listen, just let me show you." He held a hand out for her to grab.

Astrid hesitated before she slapped away his hand and made her way to the saddle. With some difficulty, she managed to find a somewhat comfortable position.

"Alright, now let me down." She ordered.

"Toothless, down! Gently!" He said while twitching his left eyebrow.

Toothless noticed his rider's facial expression and faced forward. He adopted a sinister smile that promised mischief. He opened his wings and the tree straightened out as the wind was caught in his wings.

"See, nothing to worry about." _"Time to have some fun."_ He thought joyously.

Toothless suddenly took to the sky at great speeds, Hiccup silently enjoying himself as Astrid clung to his clawed hand and began hysterically screaming.

"Toothless, what are you doing? Bad dragon! Sorry Astrid, he's not normally like this." He chastised. His free hand twitched and a small trout slipped out of his pocket and slithered into Toothless' mouth without Astrid seeing it.

Toothless stopped his ascent and began a barrel roll. "Here comes the spinning." He monotonously stated. He crouched as Toothless began spinning as he descended. Astrid wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her leg around his waist.

"Thanks for nothing, you useless reptile!" He droned. Toothless began doing hard turns above the ocean.

"OKAY, I'M SORRY! I'm sorry! Please, just get me down from here." She pleaded and buried her face in his forearm.

_"Alright, buddy! That's enough."_ He made a discreet neck cutting motion with his free hand, which Toothless noticed. Just like that, the dragon calmed. He floated along a wind current, steady, as if he was a longboat carrying a glass sculpture across a rough sea. Astrid opened her eyes, squinting as the setting sun cast it's last rays across her face. And what a sight. The sky was dipped in various shades of pink, orange, and purple. The large cloud in front of them absorbing the colors and twirling them into its frothy form. The dragon banked smoothly, as if it were born to rule the skies. And, in a way, it was.

She sat up slowly, grasping Hiccup's metal clawed hand as she looked at the sky with awe. The red-haired boy didn't speak as he flexed his pinky and the dragon began moving upwards.

The dragon took them up, his form parallel with the large cloud. Perplexed with the giant formation, She lifted a hand to touch it. No one knew what clouds were made of. They were always just kind of…there, drifting away lazily across the sky day after day. Curiously, Astrid ran her hand against the fluffy buildup, expecting it to feel soft like a cotton ball or a bird's feathers. She flinched as little as a cool moisture ran down her extended arm as droplets of water collected on her fingers. She almost laughed at the strange experience.

_"Water floating in the sky?_ She thought. She stopped thinking when she realized that since Hiccup was standing, he was halfway buried in the cloud.

He crouched down and glanced at her with his wet shirt and hair. "Clouds are made of water, in case you didn't know." He stated before shaking like a dog, making her laugh and raise her arms to protect her from the droplets.

The dragon took them up, through a layer of water vapor until they came above the cloud line. The sunshine was shut out, which left the vast starry sky to cover them. The air felt cool and crisp as it caressed their cheeks, making them tinge pink. Hiccup decided to show off a bit and he threw his arms out. As if on cue, the sky suddenly filled with dancing lights composed of just about every color. The Northern Lights swirled above them in a playful fashion, following their every turn and drop.

After a few minutes, Hiccup dropped his arms and the lights faded into the night's sky again, the colorful array being whisked away by the wind.

Still smiling, She took a glance down to see that the clouds had also faded away to reveal something else; Berk, lit only by the fires in the homes and guard towers, sparkling softly along the horizon. She gasped softly, put her hands back on Hiccup's armored arm and leaned forward a little to get a closer look. It was their home! Their village! She nearly giggled at the sight of seeing the houses from the sky as they flew along the coast.

Toothless looked back at her, and caught her gaze. He seemed to grin softly as if to say _'I'm not here to hurt anyone.'_

She blinked at the magnificent, black dragon. How could she have wanted to kill these creatures without discovering this? How was it possible that not one Viking thought to ride a dragon instead of destroy one? She stole a glance at Hiccup. He had a large smile on his face, his onyx-black eyes sparkled with happiness and exuberance. She'd never seen the boy this happy before, not truthfully at least.

She sighed against the warmth his arm gave off, and hugged it closer to her. She smiled in content and closed her eyes for a few seconds, relishing this moment.

_"Maybe…there's more to Hiccup than I thought."_ "I gotta admit," Hiccup and Toothless looked back at her when she spoke, "This is pretty cool. It's…amazing."

She looked at Toothless and smiled softly, "_He's _amazing."

She reached around Hiccup's legs and placed her hand on Toothless' neck, patting the smooth scales gently.

**A while later**

"So what now?" Astrid's voice was quiet against the soft breeze. She felt Hiccup's fist clench under her grasp, and he let out a long sigh before looking down. His content disposition shattered like a thin slate of ice hit by a stone hammer, and a frown marred his face where his smile had just been. It was evident that he did _not _want to go in that arena tomorrow.

"Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow! You know you're gonna have to kill a-" She paused, not wanting Toothless to hear her next words. She put her hand on Hiccup's shoulder and pulled him closer so she could whisper in his ear. "-kill a dragon."

"Oh don't remind me.." Hiccup's despairing voice was cut off as Toothless suddenly banked sharply, causing her to grab for Hiccup again as they turned into a large patch of fog. She had not forgotten his insane maneuvers from when they had first taken off, so she had no intention of taking any chances.

"Toothless what's happening?" Hiccup asked.

Toothless' ears were twitching frantically, his head jerking in different directions before wrenching them left or right. But past the dragon's snout they couldn't make out a single thing. Whatever force was calling him, it was thoroughly hidden from the teens sights.

Toothless was frantically flying faster into the thick mist, his head swiveling around as he made a sort of clicking sound from deep in his throat. Hiccup flinched slightly at the sudden jerking movements and tried to get an idea of what was happening, "Whoa, what is it?" he spoke calmly to Toothless, crouching and leaning forward so the dragon could hear him clearly.

As if out of nowhere, a large Monstrous Nightmare zoomed past us to our right. Hiccup gasped, "Get down!" He ordered before drawing Ebony. Toothless swerved to avoid making contact with the larger dragon's wings, but was sent right back to where he was before when a Nadder roared in the mist. It was close enough for Astrid to touch if she desired. More and more dragons appeared out of the blue. They tensed every time another dragon came into their line of sight. Hiccup was stiff, minus the precise movement of his left pinky and was looking from the other dragons, to Toothless, and back, trying to make sense of what was going on. The other dragons overlapping roars, growls, and flapping of their wings was deafening, and the air around them grew.

"What's going on?" Astrid asked. There was a subtle shake in her voice, but Hiccup wasn't worried about that at the moment. He wanted to, at the least, get out of this alive but he was clueless.

"I don't know. Toothless, you gotta get us out of here, Bud." He had placed his hand near the dragon's head, trying to get Toothless to register his words, but the dragon merely forcibly shook his hand off with a snort.

Another Nightmare came uncomfortably close to them, and as they looked down at its claws, they saw…a sheep? In fact, all the dragons had some type of poor creaure in their grasp.

"It looks like they're hauling in their kill." Hiccup stated.

"Uh, what does that make us?" She asked. Toothless didn't have any food with him. But he was carrying the two teens.

Hiccup could feel the eyes of some other dragons on them as the Night Fury flew amongst them, but they made no move to attack… yet.

All the dragons, including Toothless, suddenly dived towards the water, causing Hiccup and Astrid to give a short scream of surprise. Toothless pulled up just before hitting the choppy water, zooming every which way to avoid the almost invisible stone columns jutting out of the ocean. Neither uttered a thing as they continued to fly, but Astrid did let out a slight gasp as they came upon a huge mountain that glowed red in the darkness. Hiccup tilted his head to look at the top, which was smoking slightly, his hardened gaze didn't have a trace of fear on it. Anxiousness maybe and curiosity, but he wasn't afraid of what was going to happen. They had no idea where they were headed, not to mention the fact that they were surrounded by hundreds of dragons who were just flying aimlessly around with their supper. Hiccup felt Astrid's hands switched from gripping his arm to involuntarily encircling his waist altogether. She scooted up along the saddle to stay as close to him as possible. If anyone was going to get them out of here alive, It would have to be him.

A large fissure in the mountain came into view and Toothless soared into it. They both gave a soft cry that echoed in the dark enclosed entrance into the mountain. As they entered, the air turned from chilly to exceedingly hot, the darkness of the night switched to a dull, red glow. There were dragons everywhere in the cracks, along the walls, resting on shelves in the rock, there were thousands of them. _"This is it_,_"_ Hiccup thought. He had no idea how he knew, but it was pretty much evident. That fog they raced through had to have been Helheim's Gate, which meant that this huge rock was the Nest.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this." Hiccup said. Astrid couldn't help but nod dumbly.

Toothless veered to the left, leading away from the line of incoming dragons, and landed silently on an overhanging rock shelf. He partially hid Hiccup and Astrid behind one of the molded rocks that morphed into the wall a few feet above them. The two humans watched as every single dragon released its catch down into the smoky red depth that made up the center of the hollow mountain.

"Well, its satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole." Hiccup sarcastically remarked. They looked up and all around the cave, but not a single dragon had any other food with them. They just flew in, dropped their food, and found a comfortable spot.

That was all they did.

"They're not eating any of it." Astrid announced.

Their attention was suddenly pulled away as a slow, staggering Gronkle flew in. It flew above the hole, or tried to, and promptly barfed up a single, small fish. Seeming pleased with itself, the bulbous dragon scratched itself behind the ear before floating away. However, there was a deep growl, and suddenly the whole cave was silenced. Then, a loud bellow sound made Astrid's and Toothless' ears ring for a second (Hiccup has darklings scream only a few feet away from him, i'd say he's immune to loud noises at this point) before the largest dragon they'd ever seen leapt from the unclear fog around the middle of the mountain, and mercilessly swallow the Gronkle whole, causing Hiccup to gasp loudly and Astrid to freeze, both of them stunned beyond belief.

"Holy Shit!" Hiccup exclaimed before he could stop himself..

"What...is that?" Astrid whispered.

The creature stopped and gave a low snarl, and suddenly Hiccup could feel its eyes searching for them.

"Alright Bud, we gotta get out of here." He said to Toothless.

The large dragon's nostrils twitched, and it's head jerked in their direction. It had found them.

"Now!" Hiccup all but screamed as the thing lunged for them. He caught a glimpse of large fangs, longer than his own body, come at them before Toothless swiftly pulled away. He flew into a flock of dragons trying to escape the dominating monster's wrath. Toothless shot out of the opening at the top of the mountain so fast that Astrid almost lost her hold on Hiccup.

**Toothless' den**

**A little while later**

"... No, no it totally makes sense. It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers and that's their queen! It controls them. We have to find your dad!" Astrid explained.

She easily slid off of Toothless and started running in the general direction Berk was in, but Hiccup had teleported in front of her, taking hold of her arm slightly to stop her.

"No! Not yet. T-they'll kill Toothless, no. Astrid, we have to think this through, carefully." He pleaded.

"Hiccup, we just discovered the Dragon's Nest! The thing we've been after since Vikings first sailed here! And you want to keep it a secret?" She scoffed, "To protect your _pet _dragon? Are you serious?" She asked.

"Yes!" He firmly stated.

All my arguments faded away into nothing as his endless, onyx-black eyes locked onto hers.

"Ok," She simply said to his answer. However, she wasn't just going to leave it at that. They couldn't just do nothing, they needed a plan. "Then what are we going to do?"

He gave her a tired sigh, but also an answer, "Just…give me until tomorrow. I'll figure something out."

Astrid looked thoughtful for a moment before she shot a swift punch to this upper arm, "That's for kidnapping me." She said

Hiccup gave her a perplexed expresssion, like he couldn't believe she'd actually hit him. He turned towards Toothless, and gave a shrug and gestured towards her. Toothless merely jerked his head and gave a snort.

She suddenly leaned closer and pecked him on the cheek.

"That's for..everything else." She said, trying not to break into a smile at his dazed expression. She turned and sprinted towards the village.

Hiccup sighed longingly at her retreating figure until she disappeared into the shadows of the trees. He snapped his fingers, making Toothless' saddle unbuckle and lay itself on a large rock.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Toothless. Hopefully." He teleported back home to think for a while until he went to bed.

**The next day**

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

"Finally, I can show my face in public again." Stoick announced to the villagers that were gathered in the coliseum.

"If someone were to tell me my son had made first place in dragon training class, I'd've punched him in the face, laughed at 'im, and sent 'im out to the ocean in a rowboat for good measure." He joked, causing the vikings to laugh.

While he continued his speech, Hiccup stood in the hallway leading into the ring. He was leaning against the wall and seemed deep in thought about his upcoming battle.

"Getting pre-battle jitters?"

He turned around to see Astrid approaching him. He smiled and shook his head. "Screw the battle! I'm worried about what's coming afterwards." He said.

Astrid's eyes softened and she placed her hand on his bicep comfortingly. "Have you thought about what to do?"

He adjusted his arms to where he could wrap his clawed hand around hers. "More-or-less. Listen, I want you to promise me. If anything goes wrong, make sure they don't find Toothless." He pleaded.

"Only if you promise that nothing'll go wrong." She said.

"It's me, remember? Something's bound to screw up." He said with a forced smile. "There's something I want you to have." He said and held out his hand. After his eyes turned black and, after a small 'poof', he held a large double-sided axe that was black in color.

"I never got a chance to name it, so I guess the honor's yours." He muttered bashfully.

Astrid could only stare at the magnificent weapon given to her. It was lighter than what she was used to, but she'd adapt. She looked thoughtful for a moment and came to a decision. She dropped the axe, grabbed the back of Hiccup's head and smashed her lips to his.

The dragon tamer couldn't describe the feeling coursing through his body at that moment. The woman that he'd been crushing on since he got over cooties was kissing him. He could only freeze for the first few seconds, and then wrap his arms around her waist and kiss her back.

Astrid didn't know what had posessed her to do what she did, but she had no regrets, especially when she felt something warm and slippery try to slip past her teeth. She opened her mouth and let her own tongue dance with his.

"Hiccup, it's time te..." Gobber stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him.

They broke out of their passionate liplock and stared into eachother's eyes. Only to jump out of eachother's grasp when they realized the Belch was standing there with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Yer dad's gonna have a field day with this one." He chuckled as the teenagers faces began resembling red apples with a tufts of hair. "Anyway, it's time for yer final match. Good luck!" He slapped Hiccup on the back and walked out of the hallway.

Hiccup stole another peck from Astrid. "I love you." He whispered before teleporting into the center of the ring, still looking at her.

"I love you, too." She mouthed.

He smiled at her before taking a good look around at all of the vikings who were cheering him on. The ring had been cleared of all the wooden walls used for cover and the only one up was filled with various weapons. He unsheathed Ebony and flexed his claws before looking at his father, dead in the eye, and nodding.

"RELEASE THE NIGHTMARE!" Stoick bellowed. Someone hit the switch and the colossal gates opened, the gates leading out of the ring all closed.

Hiccup popped his neck and looked boringly at the large red Monstrous Nightmare approaching him.

_"What the hell am I doin'?"_ He thought. He approached the flame-bodied dragon until he was only a couple feet away.

"What's he doin'?"

"He might get eaten."

Hiccup ignored their questions and sighed before stabbing Ebony into the ground beside him. "THIS WAR'S GONE ON LONG ENOUGH!" Hiccup shouted loud enough for everyone to hear him.

"He spoke!"

_"Hiccup's not mute?"_ The other teenagers thought.

"Stop the fight!" Stoick ordered.

Hiccup slowly approached the Nightmare with his right hand gently approaching its snout and its yellow eyes softened at the little human.

"I SAID STOP THE FIGHT!" Stoick shouted and banged his hammer on the rail in front of him.

The Nightmare was startled by the loud noise and its eyes became vicious again.

"Aw shit! Nice going, Dad!" Hiccup yelled to his father. He grabbed Ebony and leapt away from its claws. The Nightmare gave chase to the little human that would probably become its lunch.

**Toothless' den**

Toothless' ear perked up and he looked around in alarm.

**Dragon training coliseum**

"Hiccup!" Astrid screamed. She should have known something would have gone wrong. _"He pretty much guaranteed that something would happen."_ She grabbed her new axe and cleaved an X in the cage. She gawked at the broken pieces of the gate and fixed her gaze at the axe. "Screw 'making out'! He's getting sex for this baby." She blurted out as she reexamined the black blades.

Unfortunately, Hiccup heard her.

"Really!" He squeaked, before the Nightmare's tail swatted him to the rail his father had dented. He groaned and shook his head to clear his vision.

"Hiccup, what were you thinking?" Stoick furiously questioned.

"Is now the best time, Dad? Then again, it's not like you're gonna listen to me, anyway." He shot back.

"Hiccup! Argue later, Help NOW!" Astrid demanded as the Nightmare fixated its attention on her.

Hiccup leapt up and sliced a few chains off of the cage above the coliseum. His eyes turned black and the chains wrapped themselves around the Nightmare.

"Astrid, get out! The chains won't hold for long." He shouted. He was proven right when the chains began snapping.

**Toothless' den**

He could sense it! He felt it in his heart!

His Hiccup was in trouble!

Toothless jumped up the cliff that his rider used to enter the canyon the first day he appeared here. Normally, he wouldn't make it. But he had a different motivation; his rider's safety. His claws dug into the rock and he hauled himself up. Once he was out, he dashed through the woods towards Berk.

**Dragon training coliseum**

"I'm over here!"

"No, I'm here!"

"Or maybe here!

"No, here!"

"Here!"

"Here!"

"Here!"

"Here!"

Hiccup continuouly shouted 'Here' as he teleported around the ring to confuse the hell out of the Nightmare.

As well as drain his strength.

"Hiccup!" Astrid worriedly exclaimed when he fell on his knee, panting and gasping.

"We're in trouble. *huff* I'm running on empty." He grabbed her and leapt away from the Nightmare's talons.

He landed and had to sit down against the wall, as he felt like he was about to pass out.

"NIGHT FURY!" Someone screamed.

Oh no..." Hiccup gasped. The top of the cage exploded as it was hit by one of Toothless' firebolts. Toothless dove in through the smoking hole and furiously began clawing and biting the Nightmare. They appeared out of the smoke and the other vikings began gathering in the ring to surround him.

"Stop! Don't hurt him." Hiccup pleaded to the other vikings, before his vision blurred and he fell into the depths of unconciousness.

**Later**

**Berk Mead Hall**

"I can't believe it... should have known... the signs." Stoick furiously muttered as he paced in front of a bored-looking Hiccup.

"If you'd shut up for a minute, I'd love to explain myself." He offered.

"Mind yer words, boy. Do you remember why i'm called 'chief'?." Stoick rhetorically asked.

"...I don't know. Why? Cause you're a Jackass?" Hiccup snapped. "Listen, dad. I know this looks bad but you've got to listen to me. We've been wrong this entire time. These dragons are forced to steal from us. There's something else on their island and it's huge. If they don't steal from us, they'll be eaten, themselves."

"You've been to the nest? Where is it?" Apparently Stoick only heard 'nest' in his son's rant, wherever the hell it was mentioned.

"Only a dragon can get you there but if you..."

"A dragon! Of course." Stoick made his way to the entrance with his son looking at him incredulously.

"Hello? Dad? Hey, Asshole! I'm talkin' to you. If you go there, you'll die." He screamed.

Stoick froze in his steps and clenched his fists at his sides. "You've thrown in your lot with them. You're not a Viking. You are no son of mine." He said before walking out.

Hiccup scoffed as the doors slammed shut, leaving him in total darkness. "Mom...how in the hell did you fall in love with a man like that?"

**Later**

**Cliff overlooking the Berk Docks**

Hiccup watched the ships fade into the sunset. Toothless was restrained onto the lead ship with his father, no, 'the chief' keeping an eye on him.

"Wow, you've made quite a mess, haven't you?"

He turned around to see Astrid, with her new axe strapped to her back, walking up to him.

"You've lost everything, your family, your friend, your tribe..." She started.

"I get it! I lost everything! I should have just killed Toothless when I had the chance. It would've been better for everybody." He grumbled.

"Maybe. But why didn't you?" She asked.

"I-I cou..I couldn't!" He stuttered.

"That's not an answer."

"What does it matter to you, anyway?"

"Because I want to hear and always remember what you say." She reached out to grab both sides of his face. She locked her eyes with his normal green eyes. "What went through your mind that day?" She gently stroked her thumbs on his cheeks to calm him down.

He sighed and placed his hands on hers.

"I wouldn't do it. I looked into his eyes and he was every bit as scared of me as I was of him. I looked at him and saw myself." He whispered. She smiled and pecked him on the lips.

"Now what are you gonna do?" She asked.

"Probably something stupid." He replied. He kissed her knuckles and took her closer to the edge of the cliff

"You've already done something stupid." She corrected.

"How about something crazy?" He asked before wrapping his arms around her waist and dropping them both off of the edge. She didn't bother screaming since she knew he wouldn't hurt her. She was proven right when his eyes turned black and they landed on the ground with a soft thud.

"That was interesting." She commented as she looked at how high they fell from.

"You kiddin'? That was nothin'. Head to the village and gather the other trainees. Try to get them to the coliseum. I've got an idea." He ordered. At her nod, he teleported.

**Berk Armada**

**At Helheims gate**

The Hooligan armada slowly waded through the misty waters. Stoick paid close attention to the movements of the Night Fury.

_"Soon, we'll be rid of these beasts."_ He thought. He couldn't help but let his mind wander to his son's words

_"Is now the best time, Dad? Then again, it's not like you're gonna listen to me, anyway."_

_"Hello? Dad? Hey, Asshole! I'm talkin' to you."_

When was the last time he had actually sat down and talked with his boy. He, then, realized that he knew next to nothing about Hiccup and he was supposed to be his father.

_"Once the nest has been taken care of, i'll make it up to him...somehow."_ He stopped that train of thought when Gobber approached.

**Berk**

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

"Well, that was easy." Hiccup sarcastically grumbled as he slammed the dragon's cages close.

"Hey, Wimpy!" Snotlout shouted to get his cousin's attention.

Hiccup turned around to see Astrid leading Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins into the arena.

**Berk Armada**

The ships came to a stop at an island with a gigantic volcano.

Stoick took note of Toothless' terrified state and jumped off of the boat. He took a look around and spotted a Nadder's tail disappear over a ledge.

"It's here!" He exclaimed. The others cheered and began grabbing long logs and carving stakes out of them. They also began putting together catapults and hauling large stones.

**Berk**

**Dragon Training Coliseum**

"If you're planning on getting eaten I'd definitely go with the Gronckle." Fishlegs said as we all stood in front of a black-eyed Hiccup, who was about to let out the Monstrous Nightmare.

"You were right to seek help from the world's most dangerous weapon." Tuffnut said getting in Hiccup's face.

"Uh…" He began.

"It's me. Plus you saved my sister's life, we're square now." Tuff deadpanned.

_"I'm the one that can move things with his mind, ya dumbass."_ Hiccup thought.

Snotlout shoved Tuffnut out of the way, "I love this plan." He blurted. The half-mad look in his eye told Hiccup differently.

Ruffnut shoved him out of the way.

"You're crazy! I like it!" She flirtatiously whispered.

_"Please no!"_ He mentally begged when he realized she was flirting.

Astrid heard her and pulled her away by her hair.

"So what's the plan?" She asked with Ruffnut was out of the way.

Hiccup smiled and the cage holding the Monstrous Nightmare opened.

He adopted a sinister look and hovered backwards, disappearing into the shadows.

The kids jumped as Hiccup came out, his hand so close to the Monstrous Nightmare, it was amazing that it hadn't bitten his hand off yet.

Snotlout's first impulse was to try to kill it and he nearly did by picking up a nearby broken spear but Astrid stopped him before he could.

Hiccup grabbed his wrist.

"Wait what're you…" He began, terrified.

"It's okay." Hiccup said not looking at him. "It's okay."

He led his hand towards the Monstrous Nightmare. Soon he found himself with his hand on its snout. Hiccup stepped back and the Montrous Nightmare turned to him. He laughed, totally amazed and feeling pretty awesome at the moment. Fear came back when Hiccup walked away.

"Wait where're you goin'?" He exclaimed.

"You're all going to need something to hold on." Hiccup said taking out a bunch of rope.

_"All?"_ They thought. Then they turned around to see all of the other dragons.

"Astrid, help them get acquainted and get going. I've got something to grab."

"Aren't you coming with?" Tuffnut asked.

Hiccup looked up at the darkening lightning-filled sky then back at them.

"My ascension draws near, plus i've already been there so I can teleport there in a second. Go help the tribe and tell my dad that we're gonna have a little talk where i'll be speaking and he's gonna shut up and listen." He said and vanished before they could say anything back.

**Gobber's Blacksmith shop**

Hiccup appeared near his workdesk and turned to the wrapped bundle against the wall. He adjusted Ebony's sheath to where it was at his left hip.

"It's time, Obsidian." He said before grasping the rod wrapped in red leather. He yanked the item and swung it to rid it of the cloth, revealing a large, black broadsword (Zack Fair's Buster Sword from FFVII). He sighed before teleporting out of the shop an back to the empty arena. He stabbed Obsidian into the ground and sat down, indian style, leaning against it.

**Dragon's nest**

"When we break open this mountain, all Hell will break loose." Stoick announced. He raised his arm and brought it down. The catapults all began flinging large rocks into the mountain. After several minutes, the mountain was breached. Stoick walked up to the crack, his hammer at the ready. He held up his hand again and the rear catapult launghed a fireball into the crack to illuminate it. Stoick beheld the sight of hundreds of Nightmares, Nadders, and Gronkles. He screamed and charged forward, startling them. He swatted his hammer at them only for them to ignore him and focus on flying the hell out of there.

"What the hell?" He muttered when the last dragon took off into the sky.

"Is that it?" Gobber asked.

Stoick studied the Night Fury's terrified posture as it tried to get away.

"No! It's not over! EVERYONE GET READY!" He yelled to the vikings. He was proven to have good judgement when the crack in the mountain expanded and something burst out of it.

_"There's something else on their island and it's huge. If they don't steal from us, they'll be eaten, themselves."_ Hiccup's words echoed through Stoick's head.

"By Odin, What've I done?" He muttered. The monster before him was colossal, greyish-green and blue in color. Huge jaws that could tear one of his ships in half. Muscular arms and legs with savage-looking talons and horns atop its head. Its tail had a spiked club on its tip, similar to a Gronkle's.

The dragon's tyrant queen, The Red Death.

"Attack!" He shouted. The catapults began firing and the stones only bounced off of her hardened skin. She retaliated by breathing a huge plume of flames that incinerated several ships.

"Fall back, get to the east side of the island." Stoick ordered. Gobber stood beside him.

"So what's the plan?" He asked.

"I'll divert its attention to buy you some time. You gather everyone ye can and get to the east side of the island." He stopped when he felt Gobber grab his hand.

"Then I'll double that time." He said.

They didn't realize it due to the fog, but the skies above them began to darken and lightning crackled through it.

**Berk**

**Dragon training coliseum**

The skies over the coliseum opened to allow a beam of light to pass through and illuminate Hiccup's still form. He opened his eyes and screamed as he slowly hovered into the air. Lightning struck his body and slithered into his black eyes. His hair grew longer, until it reached his mid back. And just like that, it stopped. He fell to the ground and kneeled, his hair obscuring his face. He then slowly stood and a smirk broke out on his face. He grabbed Obsidian and placed it on his back before disappearing in a burst of white smoke.

**Dragon's nest**

"Down here, you overgrown lizard."

"Eat me, you conniving snake."

Gobber and Stoick continued to yell insults to gather the beast's attention.

She decided to divert her attention to Stoick. She roared and lowered her head to eat him.

The Red Death was interrpted by a fireball impacting with the side of her head.

"Get away from my uncle!" Someone shouted.

The Vikings turned to where the fireball came from and were absolutely floored by the sight.

There were all of the teenage trainees on the back of a training dragon.

"LOOK AT US! WE'RE ON DRAGONS!" Tuffnut shouted to the adult vikings.

Stoick and Gobber stood perplexed at the sight of the children riding on the dragon's backs.

"Yer lad's stubborness may've come from his ma." Gobber commented.

Stoick could only nod dumbly.

The Red Death furiously began breathing torrents of flames at the dragon riders and one rather large plume of fire at Gobber and Stoick.

Neither had enough time to scream as the flames approached. They were suddenly yanked off their feet before the fires could touch them. They were roughly dropped to the ground a few yards away from where they once stood. They both looked up to see Hiccup's tattoo staring them in the face. Stoick looked higher up and locked eyes with his son's angry green.

"Hiccup...I'm sorry." He whispered.

Hiccup held his angered glare for a moment before sighing and closing them. He turned back to his father with a sympathetic look in his eyes.

"We're gonna have a long talk once I kill this ugly bitch." He pointed Obsidian at the queen. Stoick looked at the large blade in Hiccup's hand and at his longer hair. It meant that he had succeeded in his ascension.

"I-I'm proud to call you my son. And your mother would be even more so." He said and took Hiccup's hand.

"I know, Dad." He said.

"You don't have to go up there." Stoick said, motioning to the Red Death. She was currently fighting off the other dragon's and their riders.

"We're vikings, dad. It's an occupational hazard." He said with a smirk. He then turned around to face the queen. His furious eyes turned black as he glared at the monstrosity before him. "Go free Toothless." He said before leaping at the queen, drawing Ebony with his left hand in the process.

Stoick nodded and headed for the boat that held the captive dragon.

"Hiccup?" Astrid asked when he flew by her.

"Back off! She's mine!" He yelled to the others.

He held Obsidian up and brought it down, only for the Red Death to catch it in between her teeth. She flung him away and attempted to snap him with her jaws. Hiccup continued to hack away with his blades only for them to clang against her armored skin. With one mighty swing, he struck Ebony against the queen's snout and leapt away by a few yards. He re-sheathed Ebony and held Obsidian underhanded as the Red Death approached. He jumped and, with both hands, slammed Obsidian on her snout. He used the strike to get airborne and landed a few hits as he went higher.

"Hrrrrrr!" He grunted as he held the blade against the queen's snout. He leapt off and spun in the air, creating a white aura around his body and slamming his sword on her snout, once more, with ampilfied strength. The queen screeched as she was sent to the ground. Hiccup did multiple aerial flips and landed gracefully on his feet.

_"Your move."_ He thought as he glared at the queen.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as a familiar screech sounded behind him. He turned around to get a face full of dragon tongue. "Toothless! I'm happy to see you, too." He sputtered as he managed to get his friend to stop licking him.

They were pulled out of their moment when the queen gave off a horrible squeal/roar and stretched her hideous wings. Hiccup paid close attention to the blue and orange flames building up in her mouth.

_"Her final attack. It's gonna be huge."_ Hiccup thought as the queen's wings took her into the sky.

"Toothless, I know this is a lot to ask, but I have ascended and I want you too as well." Hiccup stated as he locked his eyes with his dragon's. Toothless nodded his approval and obediantly sat down. Hiccup made a cut on his left hand,using the claw to make a cut on Toothless' front paw as well. White smoke surrounded the blood on Hiccup's hand,he then placed his bleeding hand on Toothless' cut and they were both surrounded with a white aura.

Toothless went through a metamorphasis. His body thinned, making him sleeker, meaning more maneuverability and speed. Another pair of wings grew beneath the already existing ones. His claws extended and sharpened, His horns narrowed and grew longer, as they shaped themselves to look like devil's horns. His tail fin regenerated and a third grew on the top of the tail, along with a pair of pincer-like appendages. To finish the change off; his eyes were black, matching his rider's.

"Say goodbye to the Night Fury and hello to the Midnight Wrath." Hiccup announced as the transformation finished. He suddenly grunted in pain and grasped his left forearm. It was covered in the white mist for a moment, then it cleared. His left arm was now covered in black scales, similar to Toothless. His fingernails were inch-long black claws that glimmered in the light of the aura around them. His knuckles were covered by the same black bony substance as his claws. He looked at his forearm to see five black spikes protruding from the bottom of it.

_"Midnight Wrath? I like it."_ A voice in his head complimented. Hiccup looked at Toothless like he had grown two heads.

"Did you just talk?" He asked.

_"Only you can hear us, my brother."_ The voice, now confirmed to be Toothless, stated.

"Alrighty then! Sit tight for a minute, buddy. I'll handle the royal bitch." Hiccup said and turned to the rising queen.

He noticed his father standing on top of a large rock several yards away. Smirking, Hiccup leapt from his position and towards his father.

Stoick grabbed his son's dragonic hand. "Alley-oop!" He shouted as he spun his son around once before slingshotting him up to the queen. Hiccup struck twice before gravity took him back down. He used Obsidian to block the Queen's foot as she tried to kick him into the ground.

He saw Fishlegs on his Gronkle, swinging his hammer and he smiled once he realized what his friend had planned. He flipped himself around and Fishlegs swung his weapon as soon as Hiccup landed on it.

"Level up!" He shouted as Hiccup kicked off the hammer.

_"Claim her throne, Black warrior."_ A gravelly voice said. He assumed it was the Gronkle.

The Queen continued to rise as Hiccup slowly caught up with her.

Hiccup felt something grab the back of his shirt and turned his head to see Tuffnut smiling at him on his Zippleback head, his sister sat on the other.

"There you go!" He shouted as he threw Hiccup slightly higher.

He saw Ruffnut on her dragon head below him and she grasped his foot to give him leverage.

"Slice her apart, Hot stuff!" She shouted as he leapt off her hands.

_"Strike true, Savior."_ The Zippleback said in dual voices.

He focused his vision on the Queen to see the flames in her mouth increasing in fervor.

He noticed Snotlout on his Monstrous Nightmare.

"Fly!" Snotlout shouted as he grabbed Hiccup's hand and threw him upward, giving him more speed.

_"May the winds of fortune guide you, Magician."_ The Nightmare said.

He finally saw Astrid atop her deadly Nadder and he grasped her hand with his own before locking their lips for a moment.

"No giving up!" She said before throwing him higher than any of the others.

_"End this war, Swordsman!"_ The female voice of the Nadder demanded.

Hiccup flew upwards and the white aura surrounded him as he approached the Queen.

She opened her mouth all the way and fired the biggest fireball he'd ever seen at the island.

_"I gotta stop it or everyone's dead."_ Hiccup firmly grasped Obsidian's hilt and held the blade in front of his body as he entered the fireball.

Astrid's Nadder landed next to the others as the fireball approached.

_"Come on, Hiccup!"_ She mentally pleaded.

Hiccup's vision began to haze as the heat got to him. It all suddenly faded to white and a female figure filled his vision. The figure wore the garb of a valkyrie, golden armor and white underclothes. Her dark hair seemed to be made of silk. Her eyes were an emerald green filled with infinite wisdom.

_"Mom?"_ He thought as he reached out his dragonic hand. The figure's own hand grasped his and he felt a comfortable warmth fill his veins.

_"Ready?"_ His mother's voice playfully asked.

Hiccup shot out of the fireball and it split in half before vanishing altogether. He locked his black eyes with the Queens sickly blue.

_"DAMN YOU, DEVIL!"_ The screeching voice of the Queen echoed in his head.

"Consider yourself dethroned." He muttered before slipping past her head and stabbing Obsidian into her neck. He grabbed the hilt and ran along her back, dragging the sword through her scales and inner flesh. The blade left a trail of white flames that began desintegrating the scales around it.

With a mighty scream, Hiccup yanked Obsidian out as he reached the tip of her tail. She fell to the earth, but she was devoured by the white fires before she could impact with the island, which was filled with cheers of victory by Hiccup's tribe.

Hiccup felt himself lifted by his newly named Midnight Wrath friend before gravity pulled him down.

"We did it, Buddy." He rasped. Exhaustion began taking effect as the adrenaline faded from his system.

_"No! You did it, my brother."_ Toothless' voice soothed him as he fell into the comforting embrace of unconciousness, Obsidian slipped from his limp grip and dropped down to the earth below.

Toothless glided down to where his rider's tribe awaited them. Once he landed, he was almost immediately greeted to the sight of Hiccup's father. He glared at the large human as memories of what Hiccup told him about his past and for the fact that he had him chained to a damn boat.

"Is he alright?" He asked. Toothless turned his head back and bit down on Hiccup's pant's waistline. He lifted him up and into Stoicks arms.

He began looking his son over, finding only a few cuts and small burns, finally, Stoick threw off his helmet and pressed his ears to his son's chest. Hearing a heartbeat, he began crying.

"He's alive! Hiccup's alive!" Stoick cried out to the gathered Vikings. They all erupted into cheers and threw their helmets to the sky in celebration.

Stoick glanced at Toothless and recieved a green-eyed glare in return. He sighed, "Thank you...for saving him."

Toothless' eyes softened, as if saying "You're welcome" and he returned his attention to his rider's mate who had Hiccup wrapped in her arms. Obsidian landed on a boulder behind them, casting a shadow on Hiccup's unconscious form.

**Berk**

**Chief's house**

**Some time later**

Hiccup's eyes fluttered open and he rubbed his eyes to adjust to the light.

_"Aw damn! What happened last night?"_ He thought. He pulled himself up to get a better look around.

He was in his room...

... and Toothless was staring at him from the foot of the bed.

"Toothless!" He managed to squeak out before his friend pounced on him and proceeded to lick all over him.

_"Hiccup, I was so worried. You were asleep for so long."_

"I'm alright, Buddy. It's okay." He laughed as he managed to push his head away.

Toothless jumped around the house, the rafters creaked slightly from his weight.

_"Come outside! There's something you've gotta see!"_ He screeched as he frantically motioned to the door.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow and threw the covers off, showing that he still wore his black pants and boots. He grabbed Obsidian and moved to open the door. Upon opening it, he was treated to the sight of a Monstrous Nightmare. He slammed the door faster than anyone could blink and fixed his gaze on Toothless. "Stay here, Buddy!" He ordered. He opened the door and leapt onto his porch with Obsidian propped on his shoulder, only to freeze when he saw Snotlout on the Nightmare's back.

"Come on, guys!" He shouted and was followed by Fishlegs on his Gronkle and the Thorston twins on their Zippleback.

The left Zippleback head glanced at Hiccup and it eyes widened. _"The Savior awakes!"_ He heard it scream and the other dragons focused their attention on him. He then noticed that there were large bowls full of fish in the center of the village. There were all kinds of dragons; Zipplebacks, Nadders, Gronkles, Terrors, and Nightmares flying all around the village and walking around like they owned the place.

"Hiccup's awake!" Someone shouted. Hiccup raised a brow as the tribe approached him and began showering him with praise. He couldn't help but unconsciously grip Obsidian firmly. How long had he waited to be praised as a hero? How long has he been treated like a plague or a nuisance? Now he was heralded as a hero, by his tribe and the dragons. He was nearly bowled over when all the dragons, Toothless included, kneeled to him with their heads to the ground.

_"My Liege."_ They all thought simultaneously.

"What?" He squeaked.

"I'm assumin' that since you killed the tyrant, you're their new ruler." Stoick bellowed as he slapped his hand on his boy's shoulder.

Hiccup could only imitate a fish out of water and he was stopped by a fist to his shoulder.

"Ow?" He asked when he turned to his beloved Astrid.

"That was for scaring me!" She poked him in the chest.

"Are you freakin' kidding me? Is it always gonna be like this? Cause if it is...Mmm?" He was interrupted by Astrid's lips covering his.

"...I could get used to it." He nonchalantly said when she pulled away.

_"Hiccup?"_ Toothless asked. He turned around to see his Midnight Wrath walk up to him with a new saddle on his back.

"I threw in a little "Hiccup flair" to it. Ye like?" Gobber boasted as he patted the saddle.

"I might tweak it a bit." Hiccup joked as he jumped on his dragon's back. "Alright, Let's rock!" He yelled and all the dragons took off into the sky.

He smirked when his friends stayed beside him on their own dragons, Astrid to his right and Snotlout on his left.

This is Berk. An island a few degrees south of "freezing to death". It rains nine months out of the year and hails the other three. The food that grows here is tough and tasteless and the people that grow here are even more-so. But everywhere else they have pets like ponies, or dogs, or cats. We have...

...DRAGONS!

Hiccup stared at the camera and his eyes turned black. He drew Obsidian and slashed...

That's a wrap, Everyone. I have officially finished my very first completed story. Please review and tell me how you feel about it. Depending on your reviews, i'll decide on how soon I get to work on the sequel, Black Covenant: Second Strike. I know, the title sucks but unless I get anything better, that's what i'm sticking with for the time being.

See ya!


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